Wine Executive Jailed After Stealing To Fund Online Gambling

This story was published more than 12 years ago.

A Southampton court sentenced a wine executive to 15 months in prison after it was revealed he stole more than £30,000 to feed his online gambling addiction.

Paul Wyeth, 30, the former Finance Manager for Thierry Wine Services began stealing from his company beginning in 2007 according to evidence. Money was stolen from his company's petty cash, and the company's euro and sterling account. The amount stolen gradually grew from €50 to higher amounts as Wyeth got more confident.

It would be about two years before Wyeth would be brought down by a fellow employee. After taking holiday in 2009, a co-worker was asked to perform an audit of the company's finances to help prepare a budget for the next year. It was in that audit that Wyeth's crimes would be revealed, after confronted with the evidence Wyeth admitted that he had stolen the funds and done fraudulent accounting.

Prosecutor Gary Venturi and Defense Barrister Keely Harvey argued over the amount that Wyeth had stolen, with Venturi stating that Wyeth had stolen more than £38,000, but Harvey claimed it was not that high, but did exceed £30,000.