Letting agent jailed for 20 months after stealing £45,000 from tenants

A letting agent jailed last week after he admitted to stealing at least £45,000 from tenants and landlords is to serve a one year and eight month sentence. Judge Philip St John-Stevens at Maidstone Crown Court handed out the sentence after detailling how Lee Grace, 42, had stolen from tenants and landlords over a 15-month period in order to bankroll his gambling habit. Grace (pictured, left) pleaded guilty to a charge of fraud and a further charge of transferring criminal property under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. He had been employed by Kings Hill Properties in the village of Kings Hill near West Malling in Kent to collect tenants’ rents and deposits, but instead of banking the cash into the agency’s bank accounts, often instead spent the money gambling online or in betting shops. Kent Police say at least 44 tenants were affected by his dishonesty and that in one case a tenant made a payment of £13,438 but there was no evidence it had ever been deposited. Grace hid his fraud by juggling payment from various tenants into different accounts but, in February 2016, his activities were uncovered when a landlord raised concerns that they had not received…

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