Former banker jailed for stealing £45,000 from branch (From Malvern Gazette)

Former banker jailed for stealing £45,000 from branch

1:55pm Tuesday 17th November 2009 in News

A COUNTER manager stole £45,000 from the Malvern bank where he worked to fund gambling, cars and holidays.

Jonathan Jeynes either pocketed cash direct from the till at Barclays or transferred money into his own bank account.

He hid the scam by making false entries in a reserve book and boasted to police it was easy to take advantage of "a sloppy system", Worcester Crown Court heard.

Jeynes, aged 21, of Halifax Drive, Worcester, was jailed for 16 months after pleading guilty to theft and false accounting.

He began the bank's training programme in July 2004 and worked as a cashier in Worcester, Droitwich, Malvern Link and Malvern.

In January 2007 he was promoted to counter manager at Malvern but then embarked on a two-year theft spree, said Gareth Walters, prosecuting.

He was caught after an auditor on January 23 this year found that although two transfers of cash were shown in a reserve book three days earlier, only one had actually taken place.

Jeynes used the money "to enjoy himself" buying cars and going on holidays which included a £4,000 trip to Gran Canaria and another to Egypt.

He spent £6,000 on gambling, placing bets of up to £500. He also splashed out £2,000 on takeaway meals.

Mr Walters said Jeynes, who lived at home with his parents and was earning an annual salary of £15,500, had debts of £18,000 from credit cards and loans.

He added: "He said he took advantage of a sloppy system where no proper checks were carried out by the manager. He realised there were gaps."

Defending, Mark Lister said Jeynes had been given substantial responsibility from the age of 20 but would now find it difficult to get work.

He had been employed as a kitchen fitter for the last few months and came from a respectable family.

Mr Lister conceded that an aggravating feature of the case was the fact that Jeynes had spent all the money he stole.

Judge John Cavell said Jeynes had carried out "a carefully calculated course of dishonesty".

"You sought to minimise your behaviour by saying that the banking system was wide open to abuse," he added. "But a bank trusts its employers. This was a gross breach of trust for greed."