My best pal stole £6k from me while I recovered from surgery – she promised to keep my pub afloat but blew cash in Ibiza
Share:
WHEN pub manager Cara Campbell became seriously ill, there was only one person she trusted to take the reins at work – her best pal of ten years, Carly Stelfox. The pair were inseparable and had been through everything together, with Carly, 34, even supporting Cara through her marriage breakdown.
![[When Cara Campbell, pictured, became seriously ill she trusted her friend Carly Stelfox to run her family pub]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/7b23af20-3d40-4e29-ba4c-18bf11fa2c92.jpg?strip=all&w=394)
Like any close friends they’d enjoyed nights out and weekends away together and were also work colleagues - so when Cara, 49, was forced to take time off after major surgery, she knew she could put her trust in Carly. With no hesitation she promoted her loyal pal to co-deputy manager at her dad Gerry’s pub, The Queens Arms in Tameside, alongside another staff member.
![[But Carly, pictured right, later discovered that her so-called friend Cara, left, used the opportunity to steal thousands]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/f845e67b-cc67-4204-ac52-0be15878d7ec.jpg?strip=all&w=627)
But over several months, while Cara, from Manchester, was going through the worst time in her life, cold Carly callously stole almost £6,000 from the pub by issuing refunds in accounts in her name. After realising something was horribly wrong, Cara even checked her own cards - convinced her pal would never betray her.
![[The pair became fast friends when they started working together at Cara's dad's pub]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/481f1e15-aed3-458c-b26c-0876d11e433c.jpg?strip=all&w=553)
But it was only when she recognised Carly’s card details that the shocking truth dawned. She says: “I was devastated, and it left me questioning everything that happened when we knew each other. “She was my best friend and what she did broke my heart.”.
![[But Carly was secretly refunding £6,000 to her own accounts]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/c1f8f8c2-a34e-4e85-bdce-319ab5366650.jpg?strip=all&w=477)
Mum of four Cara met Carly properly in 2014 at a Halloween party at the pub she worked at. Cara says: “After losing the beloved sandwich bar I owned, my dad Gerry offered me a job behind the bar at his pub. “He also employed Carly who seemed sweet but we were always on different shifts so I never got the chance to know her properly.
![[Cara says that had Carly asked her family for the money, they would have given it to her]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/123e3dde-7aa6-41fe-9f00-c408c72128bc.jpg?strip=all&w=450)
