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A NatWest bank branch manager who stole £344,000 from cash machines over eight years has been spared jail.
John Toms, 44, stole the enormous sum from ATMs at the Moorgate branch in the City of London where he had exclusive access.
Between January 2016 and April 2024 he withdrew sums of money, covering his tracks by forging colleagues’ signatures, falsifying records, and even creeping in to the branch early to move money back in to cash registers which were checked daily.
Following an internal investigation Toms admitted to stealing cash to fund his gambling addiction, Southwark Crown Court heard.
Alexander Matic, prosecuting, said: ‘He worked with NatWest from 2003 to 2023. He was in a senior role … he was on a salary of £47,000 per year when he departed.’
He added that the bank manager knew that senior staff would check the amounts in the cash machines at least four times a year but he abused his position to access the ATMs in the intervening periods.
In total £344,410 was left unaccounted for following a reconciliation at the Moorgate branch.
The court heard how the bank manager went to great lengths to cover his tracks and to elude discovery.
Toms falsified cash records, ‘balancing’ the machines by filling the gaps using money from elsewhere within in the business.
Mr Matic said: ‘At the end of the day, virtually daily, he would take money from the registers.
‘He would then come in early the next morning before others arrived, access the ATMs, take the precise amount he had taken the night before from the ATMs and put them in the cash register,’ the Telegraph reported.
Following two internal investigations the former banker admitted to stealing from NatWest for several years but insisted he had acted alone.
Toms used the stolen funds to fuel his gambling addiction and despite some repayments, he still owes NatWest £250,000.
He has also apologised to the bank.
Siddick Gokhool, defence counsel, previously told the court that Toms is ‘remorseful and he is not only remorseful for what he has done, but also for NatWest and mainly for his family.’
He added: ‘Toms told police he was “happy for his pension to be taken” for repayment but conceded there was a big gap ‘between his client’s £100,000 pension and the £344,000 theft.’
the court also heard that the banker had been diagnosed with cancer.
Toms, of Prince Regent Lane, Plaistow, pleaded guilty to theft by an employee and false accounting but avoided jail after Judge Tony Baumgartner sentenced him to two years’ imprisonment, suspended for two years.
He must also complete unpaid work and a rehabilitation programme within 12 months.
