Salesman at luxury tailors gave customers HIS bank details so he could fund his coke habit in ‘not very sophisticated’ fraud
01.02.2022 - 12:33
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
A former salesman at a luxury tailor shop stole more than £50,000 from his workplace in order to support a drug habit.
Joshe Barnes, 32, of Butley Lanes, Macclesfield, had previously pleaded guilty to theft and fraud over the span of three years.
At a sentencing hearing at Manchester Crown Court, Barnes was slapped with a suspended sentence and told he must undertake unpaid community service.
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The court heard how Barnes had been employed as a salesman at Frank Rostron's Bespoke Shirtmakers, on Princess Street in Manchester city centre, from 2013 until 2019.
Between September 2016 and October 2019, Barnes was found to have taken almost £55,000 from customers as part of a ‘not very sophisticated’ fraud purporting to be for the sale of items.
Prosecutor David Farley told the court how the business operated on an online system that recorded customers’ measurements and payment details so that they could quickly ring up and order new items.
But Barnes began phoning up customers encouraging them to buy new shirts. He would then phone them up again to say the online system wasn’t working and asked them to transfer money directly to his bank account.
Over three years, it was estimated Barnes had carried out the fraudulent activity with around 80 customers - leading to around £55,450 taken from the business.
In 2019, a customer contacted the business to query the bank transfer and spoke to the business owner, Adam Dooley, who recognised the bank details as belonging to Barnes.
He was subsequently sacked from the business.
While most customers received their items, prosecutor Farley outlined that it was the business ‘that lost out’.
“It was almost bound to