Book-Keeper Steals £1 Million from his Company for Online Gambling Addiction

Filed in archive Gambling General on July 10, 2006

In less than 2 years Bryan Benjafield had stolen over £1 million from his company's bank account in order to feed his online gambling addiction

Benjafield, who's work as a book-keeper gave him access to the money which he withdrew via electronic transfer and withdrawals. The company, Charminster Limited, has since gone into administration and has had to make redundancies.

The 23-yr old pled guilty to 2 charges of theft and handling a cash transfer of almost half a million pounds. He would spend all the money gambling online at Ladbrokes and Sky Bet with sums of up to £17,000 at a time.

Det Con Paul carpenter, the officer in the case, said outside court that Benjafield was caught after a VAT bill went unpaid because there were insufficient funds in the company account.

Bosses investigated and discovered more than £400,000 was missing before they contacted Dorset Police.

Article: Online gambling addict stole £1m