£31,000 pay-slip man’s bite of the Big Apple

A STRUGGLING worker couldn’t believe his luck when he found more than £31,000 had been credited to his bank account by mistake.

The money which was intended for a pension funds account, was transferred into Mark Rafferty’s name by his former employers, Oldham-based Auto Battery Services, weeks after he had lost his job with them.

Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court heard that instead of immediately notifying the firm of the mistake, the 29-year old went on a spending spree, which included a £3,000 holiday to New York, new clothes, a flash wristwatch, new mobile phone, XBox, and iPad.

Rafferty - employed on a short-term contract between March and June - used some of the cash to pay off personal debts, and savings.

Rachel White, prosecuting, told the court the payment of £31,050 in September had been a clerical error. When the company realised, it tried to contact Rafferty by telephone and letter and he offered to repay what he had taken by instalments. Shortly afterwards, the firm lost contact with him.

The court heard £19,120 had been repaid.

Ms White said Rafferty realised where the money in his account had come from, but panicked.

Rafferty pleaded guilty to a single charge of theft before Oldham Magistrates in December. He was committed to Crown Court for sentence.

Helen Secharia defending, said: “It wasn’t fraud that landed my client in the position he finds himself in. But once he found he had this money, he did begin to spend it as if it were his own.”

She added: “His judgment may have been clouded by the fact that he had just had a very bad year, losing his girlfriend, his house, and his job. Things went wrong for him, and he then made some very poor choices.”

Sentencing him to a 12-month community order - which includes 180 hours of unpaid work - Judge Bernard Lever told him: “You gave way to temptation at a time when you were under financial pressure.”

The judge said he took into account the fact that Rafferty, who lives at Brookshaw Street, Bury, had been offered the chance of a new job, which would enable him to repay what he still owed.