Wednesday, July 12, 2006

As reported by the Daily Telegraph: "An online gambling addict stole more
than £1 million from his employers to pay for betting sprees, forcing the
company to go into liquidation and lay off staff, a court heard yesterday.
"Bryan Benjafield, 23, an accounts administrator earning £16,000 a year,
exploited his position at a building firm to transfer money to his bank
account then into his Ladbrokes internet account. "He spent up to £7,000 a
day, placing bets on sports of every kind, including horse racing and
football matches, and on internet poker and other online casino games.
"Colleagues in the open plan offices of Charminster Ltd, of Dorchester,
Dorset, frequently saw him hunched over his computer screen and thought he
was hard at work. But they discovered that he had been siphoning off as much
as £187,000 a month.

"...The offences came to light when Customs and Excise contacted the company
because of an unpaid VAT bill. An investigation found that Benjafield had
been taking money from the account used to pay tax bills and that it was
almost empty.

"...Det Con Paul Carpenter, of Dorchester police, said: 'This was a horrific
breach of trust and was theft on a massive scale'..."