Would you spend 6 months in jail for £70k?

andersonsonson · 18/08/14 - 21:03

This woman stole £96,000, only has to pay £24,000 back!

12 months prison sentence, will be out in 6

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2728007/Greedy-office-manager-jailed-stealing-96-000-boob-job-sports-car-pay-quarter-money.html

3Sheets2TheWind · 18/08/14 - 21:09

In normal circumstances I would want Louise Hitchen to spend longer in jail and have to pay it all back, but she was working for one of those PPI reclaim companies where they charge people a massive amount of money to do something that could be done for free.

It's a shame she didn't steal more money and drive them out of business totally.

Aneechik · 18/08/14 - 21:10

She'll probably be out sooner than 6 months.

Fizix · 18/08/14 - 21:15

Do I have to pay tax on it? If not then that's more than £10k per month. I'd hate every second but I would weigh it up and consider it if I were offered £70k for a 6 month stint.

NX-74205 · 18/08/14 - 21:16

I like to think that I wouldn't have gotten caught in the first place. However, if you're offering me £70K to spend ~6 months inside, then yeah why not. That's more than £10K per month which easily covers my lost earnings by some considerable distance.

auntiem · 18/08/14 - 21:20

Not worth it.
£70k buys peanuts these days. And then when you come out your life is completely messed up, criminal record, can't get a job, shunned by people.

Hugh Jboobs · 18/08/14 - 21:21

I'd be taking a pay cut, so no.

Howardessex · 18/08/14 - 21:22

That's more than 10k a month , has to be worth it . Prison cannot be bad, when ever they show prisoners in British jails on tv , they are often sad or angry to be released and desperate to get back in there !.

jimbo1962 · 18/08/14 - 21:25

can I book October through to March ?

Hypnodisc · 18/08/14 - 21:28

Howardessex wrote: »

That's more than 10k a month , has to be worth it . Prison cannot be bad, when ever they show prisoners in British jails on tv , they are often sad or angry to be released and desperate to get back in there !.

I really think people like you have royally misunderstood the sort of lives the average prisoner has.

The reason they are desperate to get back in there is they have nothing on the outside and if anything they may secretly crave the discipline inside that they've never had. It's basically institutionalization.

By comparison we have lives to get back too. Somebody like me or you on average, has a lot more to loose by going to prison.

Having said that it's the little things that would get me. I mean, being unable to choose what you can eat? Sure they have a menu with 6 choices but what if you want just chips for example?

Prison isn't luxurious, most of your fundamental freedoms are seriously deprived.

Fizix · 18/08/14 - 21:30

auntiem wrote: »

Not worth it.
£70k buys peanuts these days. And then when you come out your life is completely messed up, criminal record, can't get a job, shunned by people.

I assumed it was a "would you opt to do a stint inside for £70k" type question but you raise a good point if you had to commit a crime and everything that comes with that.

platelet · 18/08/14 - 21:40

Two points strike me on this

DM article wrote:

A proceeds of crime hearing at Liverpool Crown Court heard that Hitchens, who worked for Hardwick Financial Solutions, in Wigan, had assets worth £23,849 and had paid this money back in an out-of-court settlement.

So if I read that correctly she's not got the £70K she's ****ed most of it up the wall, taking the £24k off her leaves her with nothing

I'd say the upshot would be a scammer who scammed a company who scam off the back of other scam companies got six months in exchange for a boob job, however

GM Police wrote:

£23,849.98 of the stolen funds have since been repaid and some of the claimants have been reimbursed.

That implies that it's the individual claimants that were out of pocket and not the company - so I think her boob job should be confiscated as well.

Pumping Iron · 18/08/14 - 21:41

If I could come back to my job afterwards, yes I would.

sodavlac · 18/08/14 - 21:43

auntiem wrote: »

Not worth it.
£70k buys peanuts these days. And then when you come out your life is completely messed up, criminal record, can't get a job, shunned by people.

Yes, without the criminal record I'd go for it. With it, nah.

Apple22over7 · 18/08/14 - 21:47

Assuming the £70k would be an untaxed lump sum, and it would only be a prison stint and not a criminal record, then yes I would. £70k might not buy me a house but it would go a long way towards one - I'd happily trade 6 months of my life for that.

If it included a criminal record, social shunning, and severely limited career prospects then it'd likely be a thanks, but no thanks.

3Sheets2TheWind · 18/08/14 - 21:49

Hugh Jboobs wrote: »

I'd be taking a pay cut, so no.

If you earn that kind of money, what are you doing in a dump like this?

TelevisionUser · 18/08/14 - 22:13

Would you spend 6 months in jail for £70k?

Nope. £70k would run out after a few years and who would then employ a convicted embezzler whose details and crime are all over the internet?

blueblade · 18/08/14 - 22:15

andersonsonson wrote: »

This woman stole £96,000, only has to pay £24,000 back!

12 months prison sentence, will be out in 6

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2728007/Greedy-office-manager-jailed-stealing-96-000-boob-job-sports-car-pay-quarter-money.html

No, not for £70K.

For a full £5 million, possibly.

farmer bob · 18/08/14 - 22:30

Don't think my botty could take the heat, so No.

zx50 · 18/08/14 - 22:32

I wouldn't go to prison for any amount of money. There's a chance of you being beaten up, being slashed across the face or stabbed, being raped, probably not a nice place to be at all. Even if you weren't physically assaulted, you might endure the mental torture of always looking over your shoulder because of a disagreement you had with an inmate. No, I definitely wouldn't want to go to prison for any amount of money.

I can't understand why she only had to pay back a quarter of what she stole.

Shrike · 18/08/14 - 23:56

I wouldn't want the criminal record. Without it - well no if its a "hard" prison like Pentonville or Brixton, if its some cushy open prison then why not?

Regis Magnae · 19/08/14 - 00:24

I'd rather die than go to prison.

[Deleted User] · 19/08/14 - 00:49

It all depends how much you needed £70k I suppose. I don't need the money and it would actually make little difference to me whatsoever. You would have to be desperate to go for it.

allafix · 19/08/14 - 01:00

Shrike wrote: »

I wouldn't want the criminal record. Without it - well no if its a "hard" prison like Pentonville or Brixton, if its some cushy open prison then why not?

However cushy they might appear you've still lost your freedom. Six months of doing what someone else decides. Even six months in an open prison wouldn't be worth £70K. Anyway all prisoners start off in hard prisons for assessment. I wouldn't want one night in one of those places.

Anyway she hasn't got the £70K to enjoy after she gets out, it's all gone. As have her chances of getting a job in future.

Regis Magnae wrote: »

I'd rather die than go to prison.

Seriously? No prison is worse than death, surely.

Unreal · 19/08/14 - 02:40

Hard to say but I edge towards yes. Lets face it, most full time employment involves spending every day doing what you don't want to do for far less money.

I'd probably use the time to try to read and hit the gym without distractions as well...

Hypnodisc · 19/08/14 - 02:55

allafix wrote: »

However cushy they might appear you've still lost your freedom. Six months of doing what someone else decides. Even six months in an open prison wouldn't be worth £70K. Anyway all prisoners start off in hard prisons for assessment. I wouldn't want one night in one of those places.

Anyway she hasn't got the £70K to enjoy after she gets out, it's all gone. As have her chances of getting a job in future.

Seriously? No prison is worse than death, surely.

What's the point in living if you can't exercise freedom to enjoy yourself?

Seriously. (and I don't think I'm alone here) I live pretty much solely to enjoy life in the following ways:

- Friends and family
- Enjoying good food
- Making money so I can be comfortable
- The real pleasures of alcohol, cannabis and tobacco

My primary hobby is this. Discussing things online, reading about politics, the news etc.

What would the point of living be if I went to prison? You can't see your family, can't eat the food you want to eat, can't get intoxicated, can't discuss current affairs (in any meaningful way), can't make money?

That's why I find it hilarious when people call prisons hotels. You can give someone a 15 inch TV and a few books as much as they like but it's just *nothing* in the grand scheme of things, unless they have a really, really shitty life on the outside.

I don't know whether all this makes me sound very miserable, antisocial or depressed (:D) but really I'm just being very pragmatic. What do we, as humans enjoy in life? Everything prison takes away.

Even down to things like being unable to control heat/ventilation in your cell. To any normal person this would start to become a MAJOR annoyance after a few days. To somebody that was a homeless crack addict beforehand it's probably neither here nor there.

Hey there!

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Would you spend 6 months in jail for £70k?

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