Desperate Longton banker Christopher Reed stole £7k from OAP while working at Lloyds TSB in Stoke
BANK worker Christopher Reed has been spared jail after stealing £7,000 from an 81-year-old customer.
The 26-year-old abused his position as a personal banking assistant at Lloyds TSB in Stoke town centre to clear his own debts, Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard yesterday.
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The Lloyds TSB branch in Stoke, where Christopher Reed worked.
Prosecutor Neil Ahuja said the pensioner went into the branch on September 20 to discuss moving money to a different account.
But while he was in the meeting with the defendant, Reed transferred £7,571.43 from the customer's account into another account. And from there he moved the money into his own account before transferring back £571.43.
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Mr Ahuja said: "The same day, the defendant transferred £3,000 to one of his other accounts and £1,000 to a loan he had at NatWest.
"On October 1 he made two more transactions, a £3,650 credit transfer and a £3,490 debit, which was effectively money to buy a car."
Reed made admissions in interviews with the bank and police.
He said he met the pensioner a few times as a customer.
He was in a 'low place' at the time and his debts were getting on top of him.
He said he acted in panic and opportunistically.
He thought the pensioner would not notice. He regretted his actions and felt sick as soon as he had done it.
The court heard the theft came to light as the result of an internal investigation. The pensioner had not noticed the money was missing when the bank informed him.
The bank refunded the victim and Reed repaid the bank after obtaining funds from his dad.
Reed, of Sycamore Close, Longton, pleaded guilty to theft.
Stuart Muldoon, mitigating, said Reed had lost his job and now works in Hungary.
He said the offence was not sophisticated and was always going to be discovered.
Mr Muldoon said: "He is someone who acted completely inappropriately out of what he perceived was financial desperation.
"He has done what he can since the offence was committed to put right what he did wrong.
"He does not take the fact he defrauded an 81-year-old gentleman lightly. He has shown genuine remorse, realising the grave mistake he has made."
Judge David Fletcher said he could just pull back from passing an immediate jail term and sentenced Reed to 16 months in prison, suspended for two years, with six months supervision and the maximum 300 hours unpaid work.
The judge told Reed: "You were always going to be found out. You were found out very quickly.
"You were clearly not thinking properly. I can't imagine what was going through your mind.
"But you made things worse for yourself by going on to use the money you had taken."
Judge Fletcher reserved any breaches of the order to himself and warned Reed: "There will not be any second chances for you."
16 Comments
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by otherz
Tuesday, May 14 2013, 5:29PM
“What's that old saying ?
' Give a man a rod and he'll learn to fish . .'
In England . . ' Give a man a gun and he'll rob a bank . . give him a bank and he will rob the world. '”
by mowcopman
Monday, March 11 2013, 12:35PM
“Bankers are not the reason why we need to cut spending. We need to cut spending because the last government spent all our money and borrowed too much. Countries who have not followed this model such as Canada and Australia have no such problems. Yes the banks played a part in creating a recession and downturn but they have nothing to do with cuts i'm afraid.”
by Backdoored
Saturday, March 09 2013, 8:45PM
“Stuart Muldoon, mitigating, said Reed had lost his job and now works in Hungary....
Judge David Fletcher said he could just pull back from passing an immediate jail term and sentenced Reed to 16 months in prison, suspended for two years, with six months supervision and the maximum 300 hours unpaid work". Unquote.
Do we have a couple of Probation Officers over in Hungary ... ? Monitoring and supervising him? Nice work if you can get it.
Of course not; I jest of course. But how is he supervised from here? All very mystifying.
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by Backdoored
Saturday, March 09 2013, 8:33PM
“Sentinel Headline: "Desperate Longton banker Christopher Reed ....."
That get's it off to a confusing start right away. For the past 5 years, since the 2007 Banking Fiasco, -both over in the States and here in the UK -and whose repercussions are still with us -THAT'S WHERE ALL THESE CUTS WE'RE EXPERIENCING EMANATE FROM... the 'Bankers' have been pilloried daily in one form or another -and quite rightly so.
And in that light, the 'Bankers' who have undergone the fierce attacks by both Government and Media, ARE THE BIG BOSSES ... Chief Executives and Board Members -together with their Stock Market 'associated colleagues'.
This silly sod isn't a 'Banker' -he's a BANK EMPLOYEE... and well down the pecking order even for that job description. How the Sentinel came to confuse the two 'altogether different 'roles' in the Banking world -is beyond me. Or are they just 'sloppy' in what they throw at us with these Headlines? Can't be deliberate surely?
We all 'hate' the BANKERS... not the BANK EMPLOYEES, who probably hate them as much as we do.. Come on Sentinel -play fair.
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by Nouveau_Rich
Saturday, March 09 2013, 7:37PM
“I'm sorry, but if you think he should be jailed, why aren't any of you kicking up a fuss that it was banks that got us into this economic crisis in the first place!
I'm not defending him and his actions, but banks have been ripping us off deliberately for years. I notice as well in the paper across from this story 93 members of RBS were all awarded over 1 million pounds each last year. Now how is that morally or ethically right in today's climate? And they get away with wrecking the economy with generous bonuses! And then bank clerks who find themselves in dire financial straits are made scapegoats.
Of course, this bank worker did wrong and should be punished, but my point is that those at the top should be punished EQUIVALENTLY. By that rationale the public should be stringing up the bank chiefs by their necks.”
by Anon_mow_cop
Saturday, March 09 2013, 3:01PM
“Should have been jailed, bank employees are in a high position of trust and should pay the penalty for breaches of that trust.”
by lanternhead
Saturday, March 09 2013, 2:52PM
“buckna;;mel, it says it in the sentinel report that he now works in hungary.”
by DirtySock
Saturday, March 09 2013, 2:22PM
“most smaller crimes between customers & staff are HUSH HUSH & a P45 is given, not to give the bank a bad name even though banks have FLEECED the honest tax payer for billions a few years ago,the tax payer owns 40% of some banks,that means absolute nout they will get nothing & keep getting ripped by cameron & his fellow fraudsters....tell me this is not a broken nation do gooders respond with my factual statement pls..........”
by FFDP1
Saturday, March 09 2013, 1:07PM
“I the report Mel, 'lost his job and now works in Hungary'. Might mean the Hungry Horse in Meir Park how the local rag is at the moment.”
by hardnose
Saturday, March 09 2013, 1:04PM
“A position of trust,should have done a stretch,as an example to others.”