Former Cambridge car dealership employee's £11,000 fraud
A man who bought a car on his employer’s account and sold it off privately, pocketing the money, has been sentenced
David Wincote, 37, was working at a car dealership in Cambridge in August 2017 when he purchased a car for £11,638 on the company account, something which he did not have permission to do.
The company’s finance team were alerted to the transaction in late 2018 but although having a record of the car being purchased, they had no record of selling the car and there was no sign of it on site.
An initial investigation by Suffolk police tracked the vehicle to an address in the county. The new owner of the vehicle said he had purchased the car for £10,500 after seeing it advertised on a well-known car trading site and no suspicions were raised as all the documentation seemed to be in order. They explained the seller told them he was selling the car on behalf of his mother-in-law. The police investigation confirmed this account.
When officers in Cambridgeshire caught up with Wincote, he denied any knowledge of the car and ever selling it on.
Text messages between himself and the new owner of the car were unearthed during the interview. At this point Wincote admitted it was his phone number, but denied any knowledge of the messages, vehicle or the sale.
When officers asked Wincote why he had changed his name when liaising with the potential buyer and questioned the names used on the vehicle’s V5 document, he continued to deny all knowledge.
In a second interview, Wincote blamed his ex-partner, who had unwittingly helped facilitate the test drive and purchase of the vehicle while Wincote was at work.
When questioned about transactions for thousands of pounds from his then partner’s account to his, Wincote claimed these were nothing to do with the sale of the car and that she had agreed to help him out financially after he had been made redundant and forced to take a lower paid job.
Wincote, of Maine Street, Thetford, later pleaded guilty to theft by employee and fraud by false representation. He was handed an 18-month community order at Cambridge Crown Court on Thursday, November 12. He was also ordered to undertake 80 hours of unpaid work.
DC Anna Griffiths, who investigated, said: ”Wincote thought he could blag his way out of the situation by first denying any involvement and then blaming his ex-partner.
“He purchased a vehicle on the company account and sold it off privately, keeping the money for himself, something, which he wasn’t allowed to do.
“The judge in this case agreed that the vehicle can stay with the new owner so I am pleased they haven’t been financially impacted by Wincote’s actions.”
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