Saturday 12 June 2021

'Due Diligence', Mr Powley - Look It Up!

A company owner who lost thousands of pounds to a devious employee has spoken of his anger after the thief avoided jail time.
Kindly boss Alan Powley of Pyramid Screen Products in London Road, West Kingsdown, had even loaned £8,000 to employee Dean Jefferies, only for him to repay his boss' generosity by stealing a further £17,000.

Oh no! How could this happen? 

Now Mr Powley says he is "absolutely gutted" after Jefferies- who has committed similar offences twice previously - walked free from the sentencing without even having to pay him back.

Ah. Right. I see now. 

"Mr Powley trusted him, giving him access to the company's PayPal account to make business purchases, " he added.
In June 2018, another employee noticed "discrepancies" and it was discovered that Jefferies had been misusing the account.

Even the hired mouthpiece couldn't quite believe the naievety here: 

Phil Rowley, defending, said: "There is no doubt Mr Powley was extremely generous."

Well, that's one way of putting it! 

Speaking out following the sentencing, Mr Powley said he had lost faith in the criminal justice system. "The sentence I'm disgusted with," he said.
"Four years ago this guy worked for me and he seemed a nice guy, really helpful, and all the time he was taking money.
"He was a likeable guy and I lent him money because he had problems. In the meantime he was filtering money out using the company credit card on eBay and other sites.
"We got him into court after four years and he pleaded guilty to all charges. He got a suspended jail sentence for a year and he's got to go to rehab for 25 days, but they didn't order him to pay anything back. It doesn't make sense."

There's a lot of things that don't make sense about this story. Perhaps the judge was considering that parable about a fool and his money?

6 comments:

decnine said...

Two points:
1. A conman who doesn't 'seem to be a nice guy' will probably not have a glittering career.
2. The Criminal Justice system is about The State punishing forbidden behaviour. Getting one's money back is a matter that has to be pursued separately in the Civil Courts.

Stonyground said...

Yes Powley was an idiot, but I still think that we shouldn't be blaming the victim. If stealing that kind of money doesn't get you sent down but being rude on social media does, there is definitely something seriously wrong.

Anonymous said...

You'd think that the three employers could, between them, have the living shit beaten out of the perp.

MTG 1 said...

I suppose it is just possible that you lose your entire Bank savings to some Internet thief who subsequently avoided liability for restitution because your one incautious moment allowed the scam to succeed, JuliaM. In such a case, I have supreme confidence in your ability to find solace in some jaded idiom.

*Rolls eyes*

Longrider said...

This could prove interesting. The shortfall isn't the issue, it's hitting the scumbags where it hurts - in their wallets.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57441195

JuliaM said...

"The Criminal Justice system is about The State punishing forbidden behaviour. Getting one's money back is a matter that has to be pursued separately in the Civil Courts."

Which is often throwing good money after bad, as he'll plead poverty. And be believed.

"Yes Powley was an idiot, but I still think that we shouldn't be blaming the victim."

But sometimes, we have to do that to warn others.

"You'd think that the three employers could, between them, have the living shit beaten out of the perp."

But the law abiding don't play at the same level as the habitual criminal...

"This could prove interesting. The shortfall isn't the issue, it's hitting the scumbags where it hurts - in their wallets."

It could indeed!