KAMARA: ACCOUNTANT JAILED FOR STEALING £120,000 FROM TAILORS

A crooked accountant who stole more than £120,000 from a firm of exclusive bespoke tailors was jailed for two years.

Sheikh Kamara, 29, authorised a series of fake ‘refunds’ while working at Tom James UK Limited.

By the time the firm – which makes luxury bespoke suits for men and women – realised what had happened, he had already pocketed £120,177.

The money was never recovered.

Kamara was jailed for two years at Southwark Crown Court after he admitted theft.

Passing sentence, Judge Stephen Robbins said: ‘I take account of the sentencing guidelines.

‘As long ago as 1985, it was said that that immediate imprisonment is inevitable in breach of trust cases unless there are exceptional circumstances or very low sums of money.

‘That is certainly not the case here.

You were in serious breach of trust.

‘

Prosecutor Usha Shergill told the court that the thefts occurred between 25 May 2009 and 26 March last year.

Kamara created false customer accounts and credited refunds to them, transferring the money electronically to his own account.

The court heard that following the discovery of Kamara’s thefts, the financial director of Tom James resigned over not having properly supervised him.

A basis of plea entered by Kamara’s defence team read: ‘I did not eliminate records concerning refunds from the office computer.

‘I credited refunds to my own account and then sent them off with all of the accounts I processed.

‘The reason they were not detected for some time was because my work was not double checked or counter signed after I had signed off the accounts.

‘

Kamara, of New Place Square, Bermondsey, south east London, admitted a single count of theft.

ENDS