A financial controller has been jailed after plundering £90,000 from luxury UK property developers Candy and Candy.
Southwark Crown Court heard how Ross Smith - a ‘work in progress controller’ - stole the money over a two-and-a-half year period to fund a luxury lifestyle and pay off his debts and rent arrears.
The 26-year-old was able to access money in client accounts set up to renovate various properties including London’s multi-million pound One Hyde Park development – currently the country’s most expensive address.
The court heard how he had changed invoices in order to redirect funds into his own personal bank account as well as using his colleagues’ company credit cards to spend over £90.000.
Smith, who earned £25,000 a year, later told police how ‘easy’ it was to fleece the brothers due to their ‘lax’ grip on the finances.
The court heard that while Smith had repaid about £26,000 into the Candy & Candy client accounts he had stolen from, some £65,000 was still outstanding.
On sentencing him to a two-year prison term, Judge David Higgins said: ‘You stole far more than was required to discharge your debts. In essence you stooped to sustained criminal wrongdoing to fund a lifestyle you could not otherwise afford. You did so in my judgement in a breach of the highest degree of trust.
‘Your behaviour was routinely deplorable and deeply anti-social and if you choose to behave in this way then you must of course accept the consequences.’
While Smith began working for the brothers in 2008, his crimes were only unearthed when he left the job in March 2012 after a routine check spotted the fraud.
Smith duly admitted the offences and sent a letter of apology to Nick Candy.
The Brixton resident pleaded guilty to fraud by abuse of position.
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