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Friday March 31, 2017
12 MONTHS
No. 783
GUARANTEE
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Spring clean-up success
Sport
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£4m FRAUD £800k for fine wines Stole church funds £236k to PR firm By Staff Reporters THE FAMILY of a solicitor jailed for seven years after stealing more than £4 million have spoken of their “devastation” at her crimes. Linda Box, 67, of Halifax Road, Dewsbury, was a company director of the well-known Dewsbury family firm of funeral directors, Eric F Box, based in Bradford Road, until her crimes were discovered last year. Box’s massive deceptions over a 12-year period forced the closure of the 200-year-old Dixon, Coles and Gill law firm. The Dewsbury grandmother’s spending included £800-a-night stays at The Ritz in London for her and her family and a collection of vintage wines for her son worth £800,000. She also stole £63,000 in Church
of England funds via her trusted position in the Wakefield diocese. Other spending included paying off mortgages for relatives, private school fees for her grandchild and landscaping work at her home. She held a special account at the Harrods store in London and on one occasion spent £11,000 for her family to visit the Edinburgh Festival. Box also paid £236,554 in marketing and public relations costs for her husband’s firm of undertakers. Box, of Halifax Road, Dewsbury, pleaded guilty to nine counts of fraud, two of forgery and one of theft. She was jailed for seven years. This week her family, who police cleared of any involvement, spoke of their shock. Following the sentencing, a spokesman said: “The
Box family recognises that many people have been affected by the actions of Linda Box, who is now paying for her crimes by losing her liberty. “Whilst the male members of the family, Edward, Andrew and Richard, were found by police to have had no involvement whatsoever in the criminal activities of Mrs Box – wife of Richard and mother of Andrew and Edward – it does not lessen the devastation felt by the family for all concerned. “Now is the time for a period of reflection and for everyone to rebuild their lives. Justice has been served and Mrs Box has said she will do everything in her power to put right the dreadful wrongs she accepts that she has committed.”
Continued on page 4
JAILED: Linda Box was handed a sevenyear sentence