Bank manager stole £245,000

Money was used to feed addiction to online gambling

AN Oldham bank manager who stole tens of thousands of pounds to feed her gambling has been jailed for two years.

Nicola Taylor, who had been sent to the Co-operative Bank in the town as a troubleshooter to iron out financial discrepancies, syphoned off almost £245,000 from cash reserves over an 11-month period.

Horrified bank officials who investigated after becoming suspicious, found that the cash reserve at the branch, which should have been £300,000, was down to little more than £31,000.

Geoff Whelan, prosecuting at Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court, said suspicions were first aroused about 39-year old Taylor’s activities by a series of high-value debit card transactions to online gambling sites, which were being carried out on an almost daily basis.

Regular cash credits were also being made to savings accounts in her name, then transferred to her current account.

During a four-month period more than 40 payments totalling almost £82,000 were made into one of the savings accounts.

Further credits valued at more than £27,000 were made into another.

A bank investigator discovered that all the cash credits were paid in at Taylor’s own branch. She was visited by a senior official and immediately admitted the fraud when asked about the transactions.

She said she had taken the cash and then covered up what she had done.

She said her dishonesty had begun when she falsified the books to hide a genuine accounting discrepancy at the branch she had been unable to resolve.

She then began taking money to finance her online gambling habit, desperately hoping that she would win enough to pay back what she had taken.

Taylor, of Grenville Terrace, Ashton, pleaded guilty to 17 specimen counts of fraud involving a total of £29,170 at an earlier hearing at Oldham Magistrates’ Court, and asked for a further 133 offences involving a total of £215,220 to be taken into consideration before the sentencing at crown court.

Ermanaz Mushtaq, defending, said Taylor had never previously been in trouble and had an impeccable record during a 10-year career with the Manchester-based bank.

She said she had been a highly-valued member of staff, and had been held in such esteem by her bosses that she had been chosen to sort out problems at the Oldham branch.

She said Taylor had had a number of personal difficulties from a young age, but a key factor in her downfall was the tragic death of her younger brother in an industrial accident in April, 2008.

Ms Mushtaq said the two had been extremely close.

The loss had a significant impact on her and she had been unable to cope.

Recorder Peter Cowan told her: “You persistently abused the trust placed in you and I have been unable to conclude that anything but an immediate custodial sentence is appropriate.

“It is clear that you have had problems with gambling for a number of years and it had spiralled out of control.”