At least he didn't waste it
Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 2:53 am
A married bank worker who stole more than £2million from Barclays and squandered it on prostitutes has been jailed for seven years.
John Skermer, 45, set up fake bank accounts with overdrafts of £1million, then siphoned the money into his personal account.
He spent almost all the cash on call girls, lavishing £1million on one escort alone. The computer geek spent months wining and dining the Thai woman, known as Kookai, travelling to London from his Cheshire home and taking her to expensive hotels and restaurants.
All the while Skermer's wife of ten years, Tracy, 33, with whom he has two young sons, was in the dark about his infidelity.
He explained nights away from the family in Widnes by saying he was 'working with the police' investigating fraud.
Skermer's position as head of an IT security team allowed him to steal more than £2.1million from the bank undetected over five years.
But the fraud was eventually discovered when a routine security update at the bank logged the fake accounts.
Bosses asked Skermer to investigate, but he confessed and police were called in.
Chester Crown Court heard that Skermer, who pleaded guilty to four counts of fraud, also spent some money on luxury golfing days, tickets to see Manchester United and a £35,000 Audi 4x4.
