Three years for Barclays banker who stole £300k to buy house
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A personal banker with Barclays in Bristol has been jailed for three years after stealing £300,000 from clients to buy himself a house.
Robert Styles, 32, admitted a series of fraud charges when he appeared before Bristol Crown Court this month.
Prosecutor Caroline Bolt told the court that in the first case in 2009 a client had asked for £150,000 to be transferred out of a savings account into a bond.
Bolt told the court: “Instead of putting that into a bond, he put it into a savings account.
“Then he took £150,000 from another client and transferred it into that account. He passed almost all that sum to his solicitor for the purchase of a house.”
The son of one of the victims noted unexpected bank account activity and reported it to Barclays.
Styles started work with Woolwich in 2001 and then transferred to work in Barclays branches in Bristol.
In mitigation, it was said that, as a result of his fraud, Styles had lost his job and his wife and was now suffering from depression.
The court heard that the house had been sold and the money used to reimburse the bank.
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Readers' comments (8)
Anonymous | 23 Jul 2010 10:04 am
and we should be sympathetic.?
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M J Winfield | 23 Jul 2010 10:07 am
3 years jail is too short.
£300 x plus tax and N.I. must equate to plus £500k, therefore such short jail terms only encourages thief.
There are many a person on fixed income who would like three years all found, at the expense of the taxpayer, it would improve their lives, providing companlonship,three square, heating, lighting, free dental and priority medical treatment.
This guy got off light
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Andy | 23 Jul 2010 10:11 am
He'll be out in a year.....
Lock him up and throw away the key.....
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SAVE THE FSA | 23 Jul 2010 11:33 am
Don`t worry we will start an investergation(circa £50,000 costs) and subject to our findings we will suspend him.
Have a good weekend
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bonzoman | 23 Jul 2010 11:40 am
Didn't the solicitor do any money laundering checks? Where did he think a 32 year old guy who has worked from say age 18 (14 years) on a salary of say £30k pa (£420k before tax & NI)would get £300k cash?
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Blair Cann | 23 Jul 2010 4:49 pm
Perhaps the solicitor thought he worked for the FSA and had just got his bonus
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steve | 25 Jul 2010 9:04 am
They should promote him. At least his clients got their money back. Unlike others with Barclays....
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Anonymous | 27 Jul 2010 10:43 am
my favourite bit is...
'a client had asked for £150,000 to be transferred out of a savings account into a bond'.
yeah right, as if the heartless banker didn't hatch the idea!!
...."Hmmm let me see, I could take the 7% commission for the distribution bond or I could just get away with the full £300k!!"
agree with above comments, got off light, he'll be out in 18months....shocking
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