A trusted company credit controller was jailed tod

A trusted company credit controller was jailed today (weds) for turning to fraud to solve his financial problems.

Over six months Nigel Wilson, 47, ‘crudely’ forged cheques to move pnds stlng 23,000 into his partner’s bank account, using the cash to pay bills and reduce his debt.

But the ‘amateurish’ deception – Wilson simply used a Biro to change the payee’s name on the orders – quickly led to his downfall, London’s Southwark Crown Court heard.

In May last year Fulham-based employers Photobition discovered the cam and called police.

Wilson immediately confessed.

Wilson, of Millings Mill Corner, Northiam, East Sussex, admitted six charges of obtaining by deception and to attempted deceptions involving a further pnds stlng 9,800.

Jailing Wilson for 12 months, Judge Paul Dodgson said despite strong mitigation, the case had to be met by a custodial sentence.

‘You are a man of 47 and worked all your life, I am quite sure, in a very responsible and industrious way,’ he said.

But he said in 1998 and 1999 Wilson was beset with money problems after his divorce.

‘There were two ways of dealing with it and you chose the dishonest way.

Many people have similar problems and most choose to deal with them honestly.

‘But you succumbed to temptation and that then persisted for six months.

‘I accept the thefts were amateurish and bound to be discovered – which they were.

‘

And he noted that after taking ‘the wrong path’, Wilson had tried to put right his wrongdoing.

And he said he sympathised with the plight of his new partner, who relied on the defendant’s support having suffered a number of serious psychological and
physical setbacks.

Keith Salvesen, defending, said: ‘It is not a case where a lavish lifestyle was financed out of greed and dishonesty.

‘He paid bills, cleared debts and used the money to live on.

‘

Mr Salvesen said his client was bound to be caught because the company books would not tie up.

‘There was no cunning employed at all.

.

.

the forgeries on the cheques were remarkably crude and it is almost unbelievable the bank accepted them, the payee’s name was just biroed in over an original name.

‘

He said when ‘the balloon went up’ Wilson was quick not to cast the finger of suspicion on others and exonerated his partner.

‘Temporary financial gain has been overshadowed by the consequences for this man.

‘

He said Wilson had lost his career and good name and would no longer be able to provide for his family and ‘fragile’ partner.

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