Bankers jailed for defrauding elderly of £1m
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Two Barclays Bank workers were jailed yesterday for defrauding £1.4m from elderly customers.
Karl Edwards, a 43-year-old bank manager, and Andrew Waters, 26, a personal banker, were each sentenced to five years at Birmingham Crown Court after pleading guilty.
Edwards, of Norton, Worcester, and Waters, of Norbury, south London, were paid by an organised crime gang to siphon money from wealthy, elderly customers, using false identification documents and forged papers to set up accounts in the names of the victims' relatives, police said. They would then move money from the victims' accounts into the false accounts before transferring the sums into an offshore bank account.
Edwards was manager of the Hagley Road branch of Barclays in Birmingham, where the victims banked. Waters worked at a Barclays branch in Croydon, Surrey.
Joseph Murphy, 36, and Nathan Denton, 37, who were part of the criminal gang, were also sentenced.
Murphy, of Carshalton, Surrey, was given three years and nine months and Denton, from Water Orton, Staffordshire, was sentenced to four-and-a-half years.