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# Lichfield woman ordered to pay back £50,000 given to her by mistake
- URL: https://lichfieldlive.co.uk/lichfield-woman-ordered-to-pay-back-50000-given-to-her-by-mistake/
- Published: 2014-06-25T08:55:33.000Z
- Updated: 2014-06-25T08:56:10.000Z
- Author: Lichfield Live
- Tags: #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-07-22 20:48, News

A Lichfield woman has been ordered to pay back more than £50,000 put in her bank account by mistake.

The money – which totalled £51,821.34 was meant to be paid to Bromford Housing Association by Lichfield District Council but an error meant it went to Michaela Elaine Hutchings instead.

Stafford Crown Court was told that in just two days the 23-year-old spent £5,000 on Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Ralph Lauren and Dior goods, while another £1,000 went on paying off court fines and the same amount was given to her family. She also transferred the remaining £40,000 to a newly-opened savings account.

Hutchings was arrested on April 25 for theft and charged on September 15 with dishonestly retaining a wrongful credit.

Police recovered all but two of the designer items she bought, while the cash gift was recovered and a freeze was put on her bank accounts.

A Staffordshire Police spokesperson added: “Enquiries were then made with HM Courts and Tribunal Service and the monies paid to cover her court fines were recovered, too.

“Unfortunately the designer goods could not be returned to the retailers because the debit card used to purchase them was not recovered.”

Hutchings was convicted of dishonestly retaining a wrongful credit on January 10 2014 and on March 28 was sentenced to a 12 month supervision order with 150 hours unpaid work.

And the confiscation hearing at Stafford Crown Court yesterday (June 24) ordered her to pay £51,006.55 – the total of the recovered funds and the retail value of the clothing.

“The clothing and accessories will now be sold at auction in order to help pay the Confiscation Order,” a police spokesperson added.

“Hutchings was given six months to satisfy the Order or serve a default sentence of 20 months.”