Council accountant stole £1m of public cash to fund gambling habit

A council accountant, who stole almost £1m of public money to fund his gambling addiction, has been jailed for five years. 

Alan Doig was employed as a senior accountant by Gedling Borough Council in Nottinghamshire, where he was seen as a 'popular and credible' staff member.

But over a period lasting almost two decades, the 57-year-old transferred £934,000 of public cash - equivalent to an astonishing six percent of the authority's current annual budget - to his own bank accounts in order to bet on online gaming websites.

Nottingham Crown Court heard Doig, who had no previous convictions and had worked for the council for 38 years, used his 'knowledge and expertise' of its IT system to carry out the 'sophisticated' fraud, which primarily involved a financial car loan scheme for employees whose role required them to travel.

Prosecutors said he changed creditor bank details to his own and made at least 86 illegal payments to himself, covering his tracks by raising fake invoices, creating bogus credit notes and moving money around different council accounts as part of the offending, which took place between 2003 and 2022.

However Doig, who was responsible for the council's creditor and payroll payments was caught out when a 'suspicious' assistant accountant noticed discrepancies in the car loan scheme that implicated him while preparing a report for HMRC.

The court heard he was suspended and auditors called in to carry out a probe, and a search of Doig's desk found 'a whole host of documents used in the fraud'.

Alan Murphy, prosecuting, said: 'These included false payment vouchers for car loans; pictures of cars and sale details used to facilitate the fraudulent car loans; documents setting out false sundry debtor details to be raised and related false credit notes; false loan cancellation documents used to falsely reconcile accounts; and multiple falsely competed car loan application forms with fraudulently entered signatures.'

Doig, of Daybrook, Notts, went on to tell officers that he'd been gambling since he was 17 - but didn't 'bet anything he couldn't afford' until he created an online account and 'won £12,000 on what described as 'slots'.'

Mr Murphy added: 'From then on he described it 'as a constant, every single night'.

'It was all he thought about, day in and day out. He opened multiple online accounts to avoid betting company restrictions and once he'd used up his salary and savings he started committing fraud, chasing his losses. He did say though that he always paid his mortgage and his bills, so his gambling monies came out of the rest of his income.

'He had around 20 accounts. He thought he was spending £2,000-per-night. He said his problems had been over the last 15 years.'

He admitted charges of fraud by abuse of position, and obtaining money transfer by deception, at an earlier hearing.

A business impact statement made by council chief executive Mike Hill said Doig was an 'expert' in the authority's computer system, which he had 'manipulated'.

Mr Hill added the council's bank balance in March this year was £4.9m - meaning the theft represented around '19 percent of its current resource'.

He said: 'This loss has had a real and significant impact on not only the council, but every individual resident in the borough.

'It betrayed a culture of openness and honesty, and was truly shocking to staff who, to this day, are struggling to come to terms with the actions of friend and colleague.'