Crime Solicitors

An employee of Bromley Council who embezzled £46,000 and paid it into his family’s bank accounts was only found out after his wife shopped him in revenge for him having an extra-marital affair.

Andrew Rooke, 48, of Bexhill-on-Sea in East Sussex worked as a fraud prevention officer for Bromley Council, but devised his own scam when he began opening up closed claims against the council for personal injury or damage to property and sent the payments to the bank accounts of his mother and father-in-law.

Mr Rooke managed to do this on three occasions before his wife decided to report him after she discovered the affair.

The Mail online reports that, between June 2010 and May 2013, insurance and risk manager Rooke defrauded his employer Bromley Council of three sums of money consisting of payment of £8,450, £23,000 and £14,500.

Croydon Crown Court heard that Rooke’s first fraud offence involved re-opening a case involving damage caused to a property by a tree, which he re-opened in the name of a colleague. Rooke also implicated two other colleagues when they counter-signed the claim before he paid the cheque into his mother’s bank account.

Rooke’s two other fraud offences involved claims for personal injury against the council and he paid the cheques for these into a bank account in his father-in-law’s name.

When the deception was uncovered, Greenwich Fraud Team investigated and after four months arrested Rooke.

The court heard that Rooke immediately repaid £14,500 back to Bromley Council – and remortgaged his family home to repay the remainder of the money he had taken.

However, the investigation to uncover the fraud cost £20,000.

Despite the offences, Croydon Crown Court heard that Rooke was a “caring, sharing, family man”. His defence lawyer told the court that the deceptions had cost Rooke his job at Bromley Council – and he and his wife were both being treated for depression as a result.

Judge Warwick McKinnon told Rooke:
“You were a trusted employee in a relatively senior position, processing insurance claims with the power to accept or reject them and re-open closed claims.
“You re-opened three claims and redirected the money to you and others [though] ultimately it would come back to you.”
Rooke pleaded guilty to three counts of fraud by false representation.

He was sentenced to sixteen months’ imprisonment suspended for two years – and was also ordered to carry out 200 hours of community service as part of his sentence.

Mr Rooke has on two occasions received a national award for asset protection risk management, given by the Public Risk Management Association in recognition of expertise in fraud prevention.

Duncan Lewis Fraud Lawyers

Duncan Lewis fraud lawyers can advise at any stage of a charge for fraud, including charges of obtaining money, goods or services by deception.

For expert legal advice on all charges relating to fraud, contact Duncan Lewis fraud lawyers on 020 7923 4020.

For urgent legal advice on fraud or representation at a police station during questioning under caution, contact the Duncan Lewis Emergency Hotline on 020 7275 2036.