Gambling Addict Stole £1m From Employers
11 July 2006
DORSET, England -- As reported by the Daily Telegraph: "An online gambling addict stole more than £1 million from his employers to pay for betting sprees, forcing the company to go into liquidation and lay off staff, a court heard yesterday.
"Bryan Benjafield, 23, an accounts administrator earning £16,000 a year, exploited his position at a building firm to transfer money to his bank account then into his Ladbrokes internet account.
"He spent up to £7,000 a day, placing bets on sports of every kind, including horse racing and football matches, and on internet poker and other online casino games.
"Colleagues in the open plan offices of Charminster Ltd, of Dorchester, Dorset, frequently saw him hunched over his computer screen and thought he was hard at work. But they discovered that he had been siphoning off as much as £187,000 a month.
"...The offences came to light when Customs and Excise contacted the company because of an unpaid VAT bill. An investigation found that Benjafield had been taking money from the account used to pay tax bills and that it was almost empty.
"...Det Con Paul Carpenter, of Dorchester police, said: 'This was a horrific breach of trust and was theft on a massive scale'..."