Bank manager stole £400,000

Rogue banker Simon Clubley was jailed for three years today on charges of stealing more than £400,000 from his employers and from rich customers to shore up ailing businesses under his direction.

The Barclays Bank small business manager created a "maze" of false loans and account thefts to siphon off more than £1 million but was convicted on 24 sample charges of theft at Northampton Crown Court in November relating to £432,000 of false credits. He was cleared of one count of theft.

Clubley, 43, of Grange Road, Little Cransley, Northamptonshire, siphoned the money into clients' accounts to cover their unauthorised overdraft amounts.

He used two sources for the money, creating loans in false names and removing funds from unwitting customers.

Jailing the married father of two at Coventry Crown Court today, Judge Patrick Eccles QC said: "You carefully and cynically took advantage of systems so as to avoid detection.

"To carry out your plan you created a maze of fictitious accounts into which the money was paid. It has been established in the evidence that what you did was deliberately and dishonestly credit the trading accounts.

"You knew perfectly well that those businesses would never be able to repay Barclays Bank. The amount lost was close to £1 million. The loss to the bank amounted to £432,297.50 and that involves a substantial breach of trust."