Jail for Aviva worker who embezzled £90,000

Williams, 29, who was initially charged with embezzlement worth more than £117,000, admitted siphoning the smaller amount from Aviva between November 2012 and May 2015 while he worked at the insurer’s Scottish unit in Perth.

He carried out fake refunds to customers and put the money into his own accounts.

A “suspicious-looking” account spotted by a colleague led to the alarm being raised and his arrest.

Investigators found Williams had nine bank accounts and spent nearly three years funnelling the company’s cash into his own pocket to cover massive gambling debts.

Williams was jailed after a sheriff told him he had carried out a “sophisticated, complex and sustained fraud” on his employer.

Sheriff William Wood said the embezzlement was a serious breach of trust and there was no option to a custodial sentence.

He rejected Williams’ offer to repay the cash at £500 per month – which would have taken him 15 years to complete.

Yesterday at Perth Sheriff Court, Williams’ plea to have a community based sentence imposed along with time to repay the stolen cash was rejected.

He admitted that between November 1 2012 and May 6 2015, he embezzled £90,000.

Solicitor David Holmes, defending, said Williams had turned to crime to pay off his bets.