An accountant has been jailed for two-and-a-half years after admitting the theft of £170,000 from his employer, which he spent on a weekend of cocaine and the company of sex workers.
Darren Carvill, 38, stole a total of £262,000 from the car servicing chain Mr Clutch, after claiming he was being bullied by his colleagues.
He chose to spend the stolen money on what he called a ‘weekend of madness’ in August last year, adding he wanted to leave Mr Clutch and ‘go out with a bang’ once he realised he would be caught for his crimes.
Carvill filed fake payments to himself from numerous franchisees of Mr Clutch disguised as genuine transfers to suppliers and traders, Maidstone Crown Court heard, before the accounts worker admitted 18 fraud charges.
His barrister James Ross told the court:
He has had a very unhappy life. For most of his life he has been bullied. He has suffered from very low self-esteem and social awkwardness.
He says he was a good employee and worked long hours and did good work.
He says his bosses had shown them nothing but kindness. But other than the owners, there was at least one person who subjected him to ridicule and caused a downward spiral.
Carvill’s lawyer added his low self-esteem was exacerbated by the bullying, which in turn fuelled his addiction to ‘glamorous’ people, parties and drugs thought to be cocaine.
A source told The Sun:
He attended a club in London called Platinum Lace. He was offered to go to a private party. He went into a room with three escorts, they drank champagne and used cocaine.
By the end of the night he had nine or ten escorts in with him.
Carvill initially planned to repay the money he was using to deal with his ‘sham and unhappy life’, the court heard, but Mr Ross added he ‘was deluded’ in thinking ‘he was merely borrowing the money’.
Sentencing Judge Philip St John-Stevens said Carvill had ‘pushed the self-destruct’ button but accepted his remorse was genuine.
However, Mr Clutch Director Alfred Abdulla said the company will have to repay the money he stole for ‘many years’, leaving some employees without pay for five months.
Carvill, who lives at home with his parents in Rochester, now faces an investigation under the Proceeds of Crime Act to try to recover the missing cash.
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A former emo kid who talks too much about 8Chan meme culture, the Kardashian Klan, and how her smartphone is probably killing her. Francesca is a Cardiff University Journalism Masters grad who has done words for BBC, ELLE, The Debrief, DAZED, an art magazine you’ve never heard of and a feminist zine which never went to print.