FD who stole £1.5million from employers jailed
Ex-colleagues visit court to watch sentencing of former FD
FORMER COLLEAGUES of Graham Taylor were given the day off on full pay to see Nema Ltd’s financial director sentenced to five years in jail.
He had earlier pleaded guilty to four offences of theft and two offences of fraud by abuse of position at Bolton Crown Court.
Taylor, of Hanover Street, Castleton, stole £1,553,636 from the Rochdale engineering firm, having worked at the company for 12 years. The firm had initially been profitable, turning over an average of £3m a year, but began to experience losses from 2008, which were thought to be linked to the economic downturn. Taylor suggested to the managing director that jobs needed to be shed due to the impact on the company’s finances.
Three members of staff were laid off but unsurprisingly the money problems continued.
A firm of accountants were then brought in to examine the company’s books in November 2010.
Taylor admitted to stealing large sums of money from the company to help support his gambling habit. Following this, police were called in and Taylor was arrested. Later, he also confessed to a theft of £17,000 from the estate of his late mother for which he had blamed another family member.
Deborah Jameson, detective constable of Rochdale CID, said: “Such was the scale of the financial disaster unleashed on this unsuspecting company by Taylor that they had to lay staff off.”
