Estate agency accountant faces jail over £20,000 theft
Kieran Moore has been found guilty of stealing the cash from his former employer, Anthony James Estate Agents in Southport.
An accountant working for an estate agency in Southport is facing jail after being found guilty of stealing £20,417 from his employer.
38-year-old Kieran Moore, of Uldale Close, Ainsdale (pictured, inset) had until early 2021 worked at local single-branch independent estate agency Anthony James as an account coordinator which included work for its property management team.
The firm is a well-known local family-run agency founded in 2002.
The Liverpool Echo reports that on February 18th 2021 he was called into a disciplinary hearing following concerns about his work performance.
During the meeting he tended his resignation but later tried to withdraw it, unsuccessfully.
Pest control
Several weeks later one of the estate agency’s contractors complained that they had not been paid for pest control work completed at various addresses across the firm’s portofio.
The court heard that an investigation subsequently discovered that Moore had changed the contractor’s bank payment details on the firm’s system to include his own bank account.
The investigation showed that before leaving the firm Moore had paid himself £20,000 using this method before changing the bank details back.
Despite denying stealing the funds, it was proven that the funds had been transferred from his personal bank account to another account controlled by him, and it was also revealed that Moore had bought a new car soon afterwards.
He was found guilty of two counts of theft following a trial at Liverpool Crown, and will be sentenced in January. More was cleared of fraud by abuse of position, and fraud by self representation. He will be sentenced on January 15 2023.
Moore’s LinkedIn profile suggests he continues to work in the property management sector in Southport.
Read more about theft and fraud by staff working at estate agencies.
