GILLARD: BANK MANAGER RIPPED OFF ELDERLY CUSTOMER AFTER HELPING POLICE INVESTIGATE DIFFERENT FRAUD ON SAME VICTIM
A bank manager plundered more than £22,000 from a 95-year-old customer’s account after helping police snare a crooked colleague who ripped off the same victim, a court heard.
Barry Gillard, 31, dipped into Frederick Castleton’s account 12 times in eight months while manager at a branch of Barclays Bank in Twickenham, west London.
He transferred sums of up to £5,000 at a time into his account and those of his lover and former partner.
Southwark Crown Court heard Gillard started looting Mr Castleton’s account after helping investigate an earlier fraud against the same victim.
After crooked bank worker Gordon Day was locked up Gillard ‘took advantage of the situation’ to raid the elderly customer’s account himself.
At the time Gillard was struggling to pay off debts of £19,000 with monthly maintenance payments of £600 to his former partner with who he had a son.
Jailing Gillard for 30 months Judge David Higgins said: ‘You chose to stoop to criminality to foster financial gain; it really is as simple as that.
‘That on any view involves grave moral turpitude.
‘It must be recognised that your breach of trust was one of the grossest.
‘It is hard to imagine a higher degree of financial trust that that which is placed in a bank manager.’
Prosecutor Jacqueline Samuel said a special investigation manager, aided by Gillard, had investigated Day in 2008 after he made a series of fraudulent withdrawals from Mr Castleton’s account.
Day took £20,000 from the account and was later jailed for nine months.
Ms Samuel told the court: ‘This defendant, having all this information, then took advantage of the situation himself.
‘His transactions came to light later when an irregularity was noticed in Mr Castleton’s account after the case of Gordon Day.
‘Each employee has a unique staff number, user name and password for logging into back computers for processing transactions,’ she said.
‘With one particular exception the unauthorised withdrawals had been processed by a person using Barry Gillard’s login details.’
She said on the occasion Gillard’s details had not been used he had persuaded another member of staff to allow him to use her details.
She added: ‘The transactions were all made to either one or other of Mr Gillard’s associates, his ex-partner Joanne Harding and his current partner Sarah-Jayne Light.’
The money was then transferred to Gillard’s accounts ‘with some deductions which he either owed them or gave them.’
Gillard and Ms Light were arrested in June 2010 but charges against the woman were later dropped.
The court was told that Ms Harding was completely unaware of the fraud.
Nick Tucker, defending, said the crimes were sparked by Gillard’s money problems.
Gillard was under huge financial pressure and had racked up thousands in debts, the court heard.
The bank boss had taken out a loan to meet his £600 monthly maintenance payments, spent £14,000 on a new car and had to pay rent of around £1,000.
Gillard, of Peggs Way, Basingstoke, Hampshire, admitted 12 counts of fraud between October 2009 and June 2010.
