'Philanthropic' fraudster must pay back £100k to ex-firm

Jason Alexander's case was heard at Cardiff Crown Court

A man who used money defrauded from his employers to buy then sell computers to colleagues at knock-down prices must hand back more than £100,000.

Jason Alexander, 39, used a company credit card to buy almost £91,000 of iPads, phones and computers.

Alexander, of Griffithstown, Torfaen, admitted fraud and was jailed for two years in January.

But at Cardiff Crown Court on Thursday, a judge ordered him to pay back £115,000 to his ex-employers.

"It seems you were doing it as some kind of philanthropic act," Judge Stephen Hopkins QC said.

"In some cases spending £5,000 on items and then selling the items to employees for as little as £180 on the philanthropic basis they will not have been able to buy the items themselves."

He ordered Alexander to pay his ex-employers £115,867 within six months or face an additional 18 months in jail.

"You had an enormous impact on a large number of perfectly innocent people," the judge added.

"Those to whom you sold goods to now feel stupid and stressed.

"The impact upon your colleagues has been awful. You have stolen from the company and there was a dip in morale for a period.

"This was a gross and serious breach of trust over a substantial period of years."

Cut-priced electronics

Alexander had control of spending at car parts company, Northern Automotive Systems in Gilwern, near Abergavenny, Monmouthshire.

He made 287 purchases on internet sites such as Amazon, eBay and Argos.

The court heard the company's usual monthly credit card bill was in the hundreds, but when Alexander became purchasing manager the bill "increased to nearly £10,000 per month".

But his scheme was discovered when suspicious company managers asked employees if they had bought cut-priced electrical goods.

The conman deleted emails as well as falsifying invoices, receipts and card statements to cover his trail.

Alexander, who had worked at the company for 14 years, bought petrol for his white Land Rover, red Mini and his partner's Ford Fiesta.