Banker who stole £18,000 from elderly customer with dementia jailed
Stephen Barr, of Aberdeen, targeted the 81-year-old between March and May 2018 while working at a Bank of Scotland branch in Dundee.
A former senior banker has been jailed after stealing almost £18,000 from a dementia-stricken elderly customer.
Stephen Barr, of Aberdeen, targeted the 81-year-old widower between March and May 2018 while working as a link bank manager at a Bank of Scotland branch in Dundee.
38-year-old Barr transferred £10,550 into a building society account belonging to his brother as well as making several ATM withdrawals totalling £7,383.
The customer he stole from has since died.
"Shocking and callous betrayal of trust"
A court heard the elderly man regularly visited the bank and spoke to Barr about his accounts and affairs.
In May that year, concerns were raised at Lloyd's Banking Group over the number of faster payments being made by Barr from one of the man's accounts.
The staff file number used to make the payments corresponded with that of the accused and the sort code of the Nationwide account reiving these payments was the same account the accused received his salary into.
Investigations found £17,933 had been withdrawn in cash or transferred from the customer's accounts and the police were contacted.
When Bank of Scotland officials interviewed Barr, he said the man was a regular customer and admitted being aware he was vulnerable.
The court heard Barr admitted taking one of the man's debit cards to take out cash from ATM machines in both Dundee and Aberdeen.
The customer was refunded the money stolen from him before he died.
At Dundee Sheriff Court on Tuesday 10 September, Barr was sentenced to 13 months in prison.
He will also be subject to a confiscation action to recover the money he stole.
Helen Nisbet, Procurator Fiscal for Tayside, Central and Fife, said: “This was a shocking and callous betrayal of trust of both a vulnerable man and of an employer.
“We all should be able to rely on banking staff to deal with our money honestly. However, in this case, Stephen Barr set out to target an elderly man and steal from him.
“Thankfully, his criminal conduct was uncovered, and justice has been done.”
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