Manager ‘siphoned’ off £100,000 from clients’ accounts
10:10am Sunday 12th February 2012 in News
A FINANCE manager of a Manchester firm of surveyors “siphoned” more than £100,000 of clients’ cash into his own bank account, a court heard.
In the space of a year Gavin Sutton, aged 34, of Westhoughton, blew the lot on horses and clothes — and is now broke, the court was told.
Prosecutor Helen Veitch said he had covered up the scam by claiming the money was being legitimately paid to a cleaning company.
“This was a huge breach of trust. It was calculated planning to systematically take money from the firm”, she added.
Sutton, of Grundy Street, pleaded guilty at Manchester city magistrates court to defrauding Mathews and Goodman LLP of £102,160.26p.
The court heard that he had dipped into clients’ accounts on 32 occasions between March 2010 and March last year.
Mrs Veitch said Sutton used his manager’s online login and his password when he finished early or went on holiday.
The thefts came to light after he left the firm, based in Deansgate, Manchester, where he had worked for nearly three years.
Philip Lythgoe, defending, said the offences were committed when Sutton was “bending under the stress and strain of debt”.
“He deeply regrets his actions and has expressed immense remorse,” said Mr Lythgoe.
Sutton was granted bail until March 8 when he will appear at Manchester Crown Court for sentence.
Richard Beaumont, head of property management for Mathews and Goodman LLP, yesterday said that thankfully there had been no impact on the business through Sutton’s actions.
He added: “As soon as we found out what was going on we reported it to the police who prosecuted him.
“The employee involved is no longer at the firm and that is the main change.
“We trusted him until we discovered what was going on and then we did what we felt was necessary.”
