In a tragic case, a lettings manager has been jailed after stealing £302,000 from the employer who gave him a chance after he dropped out of university – and who trusted him “like a son”.
Gambling addict Robert Parker, 28, admitted the theft from the agency over a seven year period.
Parker, a father of two young children, enjoyed horse racing and had gambled up to £50,000 a month. His barrister said that gambling could be seen as an illness.
His family has been devastated, the court heard, while the betrayed employer who gave him his chance had known him since childhood has forfeited a close friendship.
Nina Chivers had set up her agency, Nina Estate Agents and Nine Letting Agents in Barry, south Wales, with the help of her close friend, Parker’s mother who is no longer in her life.
She said she missed her friend, but understood.
At Cardiff Crown Court, Parker was jailed for three years and two months by Judge Niclas Parry who told him: “You bragged about your gambling and enjoyed the trappings of wealth.”
Prosecutor Owen Williams said that the “materialistic” defendant would have high value goods delivered to the office and enjoyed regular breaks and holidays.
Taking him on after Parker abandoned his university studies, and thinking him a conscientious, trustworthy and efficient member of her team, Mrs Chivers had promoted him to lettings manager.
Kevin Seal, mitigating, said Parker had sought help for his problem with Gamblers’ Anonymous and that his guilty plea showed remorse.
His barrister added that “gambling is seen as an illness in itself”.
Mr Seal told the court: “As with any addiction, there are many highs and there are lows, always ending in a low and in destruction.”
Describing Parker as a “Jekyll and Hyde” character, he said he was the father of two young children and that he came from a “good family” who have been left devastated by his actions.
Outside court, Mrs Chivers spoke about the betrayal: “I first knew Robert when he was 13. His mother Diane and I worked together in another estate agents practice for a few years until I decided to leave and open my own estate agency.
“My husband and I cared for Robert like a son, I trusted him implicitly.
“He frequently came to our house to go on bike rides with my husband and my husband helped with building work over the years in his homes.
“He confided in me with his problems and referred to me as his second mum.”
She added: “Heart wrenchingly, I have lost a special friendship with his mother Diane as we were best friends. It’s now impossible to remain friends and I perfectly understand that she needs to support her son.
“I miss her in my life more than anyone would know.”
Parker will now be subject to a Proceeds of Crime Act proceedings with a hearing due to take place on May 20.
Judge Parry said: “This case demonstrates the havoc that a gambling addiction can cause.”
Agent reveals devastation after ‘trusted’ employee admits stealing over £300,000
Nina sounds like a great person… this guy totally betrayed her and a friendship has disintegrated because of this deadbeat and I say that because of his boasting and high life persona….that’s not just a gambling problem, he’s a Walter Mitty..living well beyond his means at Nina’s expense, he knew it all along. You can be pretty sure the Gamblers Anonymous and so called remorse would have crept in to his agenda when he knew the gig was up so it looked that he was trying to do something about it…a smokescreen. 50k per month jeez…. this fraudster is not wired up right ! Absolutely no sympathy from me… his sentence is way too light..half tarrif for good behaviour remember !…out in time to enjoy the tail end of next summer, in contrast how many years will it take Nina to replenish the money he stole !
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Whilst obvious sympathy for the business owner who has been betrayed by an employee but £300,000?
What checks, balances, audits, controls were in place? – clearly inadequate.
if an employee was boasting about wealth and clearly living way beyond that which his salary would provide, surely a business owner should have been all over the situation like a rash before it reached such a significant sum. Were there no other staff questioning anything?
We are probably not getting the full story here but a clear warning to all business owners to ensure that they have the systems and security to make sure this level of crime cannot go undetected.
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Separation of duties is the fundamental basic of client cash accounting and ought to be mandatory, it certainly ought to be something the annual audit insists on seeing evidenced
If without explanation of separation of duties you don’t understand what I am talking about but are the end of line responsible for clients’ money, worry!!!!!; come April you are unlikely to secure the client money protection your business will be required to have.
Although theft by an employee is a PI issue not having proper procedure for client’s money will mean no-one will insure you against losses that “aren’t your fault” but are fully your fault because you failed to do the whole job properly.
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Sorry, no sympathy at all for any business owner who neglects their business to the extent that north of £300,000 can go missing. We reconcile our accounts daily, I have my finger on the pulse and question any transaction that looks unusual or out of place. I fully trust my staff and garner respect from them for being close to the business. Was the agent not a member of ARLA or NALS having to submit audited accounts? UNBELIEVABLE !
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How the hell can a small business lose £300,000 without the owner realizing???
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Lets be honest (Sorry for all the Snowflakes i am about to offend).
Gambling, excessive drinking or drug taking are not illnesses. It is selfish behaviour.
Nobody is born a gambler, they have made a choice at a certain part of their life they want to have a bet. They then are either too stupid or too selfish to stop.
Its all about poor life choices. Don’t make them and then expect sympathy. If more people stopped blaming others and actually looked out for themselves instead of expecting others to help we would live in a better world.
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God forbid you ever fall off your high horse SP, it would be a very long way down.
Yes, it is a choice for most of these people – to begin with. Unfortunately not everyone has your upstanding moral fibre and the weak are susceptible to what quickly becomes an addiction from which they simply do not have the capacity to escape. Yes, some will be genuinely stupid and selfish. Some will be arrogant chancers who have never learned self control or respect for others. But not every one of them is a feckless fool. Some are as sick as if they had a serious physical disease and I think you should be careful in your sweeping statements.
p.s. I am one of the least tolerant people you would want to meet – but even I can see beyond the stereotype you picture.
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Oh believe me i have fallen off my high horse many a time, but i do not look to blame anyone or try and weasel my way out of mistakes i have made.
The issue is, people now use ‘Illness’ as an excuse. Which means when they balls up its the first line of defence to gain sympathy and forgiveness.
Its become cultural and acceptable. Which quite frankly it should not be.
The chap in the story above is quite clearly an a***hole! – Not only was he gambling with other peoples money he was spending it on high ticket items and holidays.
Does his illness make him book holidays as well?
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All too often small business’s are lazy with client money checks. Oh my staff wouldn’t dream of it …. yeah most wouldn’t but as she discovered, he did and he hasn’t been the first. The buck stops with the business owner and unwise not to have checks.
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This case will take paid claims over the last 18 months by the PI market well over the 1m mark directly related to fraud.
Six PI insurers have dropped out of the market in the last 10 months. 2 were key players in underwriting property professionals.
Those policy holders who went with insurers undercutting the market and whom are no longer in business shall potentially be left with no cover having paid their annual premium.
With all the new legislation associated with the PRS, the increased frequency of claims and capacity in the market diminished PI premiums are inevitably on the increase.
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“The court heard that Parker admitted stealing £302,000 but has denied taking a further £223,000.”
This sounds more like a fraud and false accounting issue – none of the landlords or tenants lost money – Parker was probably running a business within the business and cooking the books (understating income/overstating costs to cover the cash extracted).
The owner’s insurers will rely on small print (lack of supervision/oversight) to avoid paying out and the PoCA proceedings will reveal that Parker has no money to pay her back ?
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