A former Lookers assistant accountant has been jailed for 44 months after stealing £188,180 from the AM100 dealer group while on licence for an earlier fraud involving almost £2.5m at Evans Halshaw.
Chronicle Live reports how Allan Curry, 33, used a doctored Disclosure and Barring Service certificate to conceal his previous convictions, which occurred while Evans Halshaw was part of Pendragon, before securing a position in Lookers’ finance department in September 2022.
Newcastle Crown Court heard that Curry processed supplier invoices and raised payments as part of his role. He subsequently created false identities, email addresses and invoices to direct dealership funds into an account he controlled.
Past conviction hidden from Lookers
Curry carried out eight fraudulent transactions between December 2022 and May 2023, stealing a total of £188,180 in just over five months. None of the money has been recovered.
The fraud was discovered after a Lookers employee who had previously worked with Curry at Evans Halshaw recognised him and alerted management to his criminal history.
Lookers’ finance department found an online report containing Curry’s photograph and details of his previous conviction. He was dismissed and a further fraudulent payment of £111,000 was stopped before it could be completed.
Curry had been jailed for six years in 2017 after stealing just under £2.5m from Evans Halshaw, which is now a trading brand of Lithia UK, through a similar fraud involving false email addresses and payments to accounts under his control.
He used the proceeds of the earlier fraud to gamble and purchase properties and vehicles. Curry was released on licence in December 2020.
Curry, of Norfolk Close, Seaham, pleaded guilty to fraud by abuse of position covering the period from December 2022 to May 2023.
Jailing him, recorder Nathan Moxon said: “You were stealing out of greed. You told the probation service you found it difficult to survive on a normal wage. Well, people have to survive on a normal wage. You spend the money on items including a £60,000 car.”
Jamie Adams, defending, said: “He has absolutely nothing to show for this stealing on this occasion. There are no assets, there’s no rich living. There were vehicles he bought and exchanged and they came to nothing in the end.”
Curry now faces proceedings under the Proceeds of Crime Act in an attempt to recover the stolen funds.
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