March: Fraudster Jailed

29 July 2013, 09:34 | Updated: 29 July 2013, 10:35

A man from March, who stole almost £200,000 from his employer, has been jailed for two years.

Robert Wilson, 33, of Bronze Street, March, stole a total of £194,919.53 in 144 fraudulent credit transfers to two different accounts between April 2007 and September 2012.

He pleaded guilty to theft by employee and was jailed for two years at Peterborough Crown Court on Friday (July 26).

Wilson worked for S&W Precision Engineering Limited for almost five years and in 2012 he was signed off sick. 

A temporary accountant was employed and they noticed paperwork was missing from the accounts.

There were 20 transactions totalling more than £16,000 which had been paid from the company account to an account in the name of 'R Wilson'.

When Wilson was asked for an explanation he admitted stealing it. 

He was arrested and interviewed, but denied officers consent to carry out enquiries into his account.

Officers attended court, and under PACE (Police and Criminal Evidence Act), a Section 9 production order was authorised.

On further investigation it revealed there were numerous unauthorised payments totalling more than £179,000.

Wilson was interviewed a second time and he confirmed every transaction was his doing and he had unlawfully taken the money.

Detective Sergeant Matt Swash said: "This was a huge breach of trust placed on someone who was supposed to be safeguarding the financial interests of the company.

Wilson tried to hamper the investigation by refusing access to his accounts, but we showed he dishonestly abused his position for his own gain.

It was a complex investigation involving careful analysis of years' worth of financial transactions to allow justice to be done."