Crooked accountant bet so much they named a greyhound after him

An accountant who led an incredible life as a ‘high rolling’ celebrity while he swindled his own firm out of £3 million to feed his gambling habit has been jailed for three years and eight months.

Ben Wiley, 29, was treated to a ‘staggering’ day at Wimbledon’s centre court which included a four course lunch and champagne reception.

He was also ‘comped’ a stag night to the dog races with his friends by bookmakers Stan James after he wagered a fortune with them.

The accountant bet so much money on greyhounds that the firm even named a dog after him.

Wiley, who served as the firm’s accounting officer, was a board member for Essex-based mechanical service contractors DG Robson, which was bought by the publicly listed firm T Clarke plc in 2010.

The court heard how the 29-year-old, who earned £50,000 a year, siphoned off the huge funds by creating fake invoices from company contractors and making a total of 300 transactions into his personal accounts.

Wiley’s lavish lifestyle also including trips to the Cheltenham races and he splashed his cash on a home and luxury motors.

He pocketed £2,939,514.75 between May 2013 and October 2016, fraudulently making payments into his own account before laundering the money through betting sites.

Judge Martin Griffith, QC, told Wiley: ‘You helped yourself to nearly £3 million worth of your employer’s money over a substantial period of time, which you could do because you were an accountant.

‘More than 300 times, you diverted or created payments due to suppliers who weren’t actually due to have any money. You then paid it into your own bank account or accounts.

‘It seems to have pulled the wool over the eyes of auditors in the company you were at over a number of years.’

‘You created documents, getting round the system to prevent you from doing so, using the signing on details of two directors before you were given your own ability to sign on.’

‘You spent two-and-a-half million pounds with betting companies,’ the judge explained, adding that Wiley had ‘won quite a bit’ and was only around £700,000 down when he was caught.

‘I am not surprised, in this day and age, that you were corporately entertained at Wimbledon.

‘You were enjoying a lavish lifestyle.

‘You must have know, as you went through 300 plus individual frauds in this time, that what you were doing was going to be found out. The responsibility for this rests on the punter and that is you.’

Susannah Stevens, defending said: ‘By 2015 he’s gambling over half-a-million pounds. By 2016 he is gambling over one-and-a-half million pounds.

‘He was receiving personal messages encouraging him to place bets.’

Ms Stevens told how the bookmakers would offer him money to place more bets.

‘There was the lure of free money, there were messages about certain free bets.

‘They paid for him to have extraordinary days out.’

The court heard how Stan James paid for him to have Centre Court tickets to Wimbledon with a staggering day of champagne and a four course lunch with wine all the way through the day.

‘He was invited as a guest to Cheltenham. It was the racing,’ continued Ms Stevens.

‘They sponsored a dog for him in his own name and they really went to quite extraordinary lengths to keep him in this position of spending money that he couldn’t possibly obtain by legitimate means.

‘They offered to pay for Mr Wiley’s stag do. They sponsored this dog and paid for all of his friends to go to this dog racing event.’

The judge agreed, adding: ‘You enjoyed a car, a house – it may well be that your wife was a bit materialistic.’

Ms Stevens told how Wiley’s wife, Laura, had divorced him once they lost the lavish lifestyle he had provided.

She said: ‘He has lost absolutely everything, he has lost his job, he has lost his career as an accountant – he will never ever be able to work as an accountant again.

‘He became increasingly addicted and increasingly desperate. He has lost his marriage – when his lifestyle went so did his life.’

Ms Stevens told how his wife had stopped him from seeing his two young sons: ‘It is absolutely appalling and it has had a devastating effect on Mr Wiley.’

Wiley is now training as an electrician, the court was told.

DG Robson works across a wide range of sectors – including education, transport, banking, residential and commercial. It was responsible for pipe work installation on the Shard development at London Bridge.

Wiley, of Hornchurch, Essex, admitted fraud by abuse of position and money laundering and a further count of fraud was left to lie on file.

He was sentenced to 3 years and eight months in jail.