A trainee accountant who defrauded his employer of £58,000, which he spent in six months on a car and alcohol, has been given a suspended jail sentence
Minshull Street Crown Court was told that Jake Currie from Stockport started a £22,000 a year job with NUCO Travel in 2017. The following year he took a large amount of sick leave and then said he would be taking a holiday to Canada.
Currie subsequently left the company, and his replacement uncovered a number of discrepancies in the payments system. These included several payments going to three personal accounts belonging to Currie but disguised as payments to company customers.
In December 2018 the matter was reported to the police, and the investigation uncovered a number of fake invoices.
Sentencing Currie, Judge Bernadette Baxter said: ‘You made 22 transactions over a six month period of £58,000.
‘You did it in a state of mind where you felt sorry for yourself. You were spending the money on frivolous things, £9,000 on a mortgage and £10,000 payment towards a car.
‘You have then drank and frittered away the rest of the money. I accept your behaviour was out of character for you.’
Currie was sentenced to two years in prison suspended for two years.
He was also sentenced to 200 hours of unpaid work and a five days rehabilitation activity requirement after pleading guilty to one count of fraud and two counts of transferring criminal property
