Manager at Bridging Loan Surveyor firm jailed for fraud

Gavin Sutton from West Houghton, a finance manager working for bridging surveyors Matthews & Goodman has pleaded guilty to fraud and been sentenced to twenty months in jail. It was determined that Sutton, 34, stole £102,000 from his company over a year period by carefully removing £100,000 out of clients' accounts and transferring it to his own, using his manager's online password when the manager either went home early or while he was on holidays. He later tried to claim the thirty two transfers were to pay for cleaning expenses and now appears to have spent all the money in a 12 month period. The fraud was only detected after the bridging surveyors, who work with bridging loan companies, computers crashed and the accounts manager had to recover all the data. Sutton claims that the thirty two transfers he made into his account were used for his children, his ex-wife, a holiday and alcohol. He claims to have had a long standing problem with alcohol and had left to company to try and get himself sober. A criminal case will be heard later this year and Sutton has offered to repay the debt, but after consideration it was realised it will take him approximately thirty three years to pay it off.