The greedy fraudster who abused his position of trust...then tried to 'cover his tracks'
18.05.2023 - 05:37
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
A thieving pension fund administrator helped himself to almost £240,000 to pay off his debts, leaving the small company he worked for on the brink of collapse.
David Parker, 37, from Wythenshawe, secretly made 53 transactions under the noses of colleagues at a Manchester-based firm of financial advisors, moving cash into bank accounts he controlled during a four-year campaign of fraud.
The guilt-ridden dad told police about his crimes but cops did 'nothing' until an independent financial advisor spotted 'discrepancies' and his crimes began to unravel, a court heard. Now he has been jailed.
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Parker betrayed the the trust placed in him by Multiplex Pension Trustees Ltd, where he worked as a pension fund administrator earning £37,000-a-year.
One of the funds he managed was for an Altrincham clothing company employing 50 people, Miss Mary of Sweden, prosecutor Juliet Berry told Manchester Crown Court.
When a decision was made to 'wind up' the relatively modest fund dating back to the 1990s, it was agreed that Parker would write to the members of the scheme. But unbeknown to his colleagues or members of the scheme he had been regularly stealing from the fund between 2016 and 2020.
In March 2020 Parker went on sick leave at a time when most of his colleagues at Multiplex were working from home due to the Covid pandemic restrictions and he had 'little interaction' with other members of staff, the court heard.
When restrictions eased, he came into the firm's York Street offices in central Manchester 'from time to time' but he again went off work on sick leave during July and August of 2020, according to Ms Berry.
Colleagues believed his continued absence was