Stealing Cisco employee sentenced to two-year prison stint

Account manager stole £130,000 to fund his gambling problem

A Cisco account manager has been sentenced to two years in prison for stealing £130,000 from customers' accounts.

According to local news reports, Leigh Jones of Saltney in North Wales was sentenced to two years in prison by Chester Crown Court, where he appeared earlier this week.

The 27-year old earned upwards of £50,000 in commission at Cisco's Northwich branch but stole from his employer after developing a gambling addiction.

Jones pleaded guilty to defrauding Cisco to fund his problem, local press claims. Some £129,614.37 was divested into his personal accounts straight from customers over three years, the court heard, with one single transaction surpassing £84,000.

He was found out after handing his accounts over to a colleague while he was on a Caribbean cruise with his family in February this year, and when he found his email access blocked on his return, he had planned to confess.

Defending, Robin Boag said Jones was addicted to gambling and had been forced to return to live with his parents after his wife left him when she found out about the fraud.