A manager at a firm in Lincolnshire defrauded the company for which he had worked for more than 20 years, stealing over £700,000 in what prosecutors described as “a calculated and sustained abuse of trust.”

Brian Sinclair worked as a Packaging Manager at Noble Foods and was responsible for managing stock levels across the company, at all their sites across the country.

The Economic Crime Unit (ECU) investigated and found that between 2018 and 2019, Sinclair used his position to divert existing stock and place false orders with manufacturers to steal from the company.

According to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), he exploited his position by purchasing and then selling packaging materials to recycling centres without authority from his employer.

The company suffered substantial losses, as not only did it lose stock, but it was also billed for unnecessary stock that it did not receive, as well as being invoiced for the haulage costs. Sinclair had invoices altered to avoid detection.

In October last year, Sinclair pleaded guilty to one count of theft, four counts of fraud by false representation and two counts of fraud by abuse of position.

He was sentenced to three years and eight months in prison at Lincoln Crown Court in April this year.

Commenting on the case, Roger Isaacs, a Forensic Partner at Milsted Langdon, said: “It feels like every few weeks we report on similar cases of serious fraud within companies falling victim to this type of criminality.

“Any sense of victim-blaming should be strenuously avoided especially in a world in which artificial intelligence has made it easier than ever to create very convincing false documentation at the press of a button.

“As forensic accountants, we are often called in to find evidence of wrongdoing or to prove that those wrongly accused are innocent.  In either circumstance, it typically boils down to following the money.”