Financial Director Steals £1.5m to Support Online Bingo Habit

Sentencing was finalized for the financial director who took £1.5m from his employer, engineering firm Nema Ltd, to support his online bingo habit. Graham Taylor, 66, will spend the next 5 years in prison. He pleaded guilty to 4 counts of theft and 2 counts of fraud.

Taylor stole money repeatedly over the course of 4 years and 3 colleagues lost their jobs as a result.

Paid time off was granted to Taylor’s former colleagues to allow them to attend the court hearing and witness his sentencing.

Taylor as employed at the Rochdale firm for 12 years when the previously successful business that was used to earning more than £3m a year began to see a decline in profits.

The economic situation was blamed for the losses and the company let go of 3 people as suggested by Taylor.

Income for the form continued on a downward spiral and a team of accountants was brought on board to review the situation in November 2010. Taylor then admitted to the theft and was arrested.

Det. Con Deborah Jameson said: "Such was the scale of the financial disaster unleashed on this unsuspecting company by Taylor that they had to lay staff off.

"Losing your job under any circumstance can be traumatic, but to know it was the deliberate actions of a desperate gambler must make it so much worse."

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