Ex-finance manager stole £800k leaving student union on brink of collapse

A former finance manager left Hull University Student's Union on the verge of collapse after stealing £800,000.

Grandfather-of-six, Graham Jackson, 59, enjoyed expensive holidays, cars and gave his wife £200 a day in spending money, a court heard.

Jackson's fraud at the university went undetected for 13-and-a-half years and cost 11 of his colleagues their jobs during a staff restructure which Jackson helped to implement.

Hull Crown Court heard that Jackson was employed at Hull University Union (HUU) from November 2000 to August 2015, before he was made a £22,000 exit package offer following an investigation that revealed the organisation's accounts were in disarray.

Prosecuting, Stephen Welch, told the court that subsequent investigations revealed how between May 2002 and the end of his employment, Jackson raised invoices that appeared to show regular payments for supplies but the money was, in fact, going into his personal savings accounts.

After initially admitting "some wrongdoing" upon his arrest in September 2015, Jackson went on to confess he had used the same method again and again to steal from his employer.

No charges were brought against his wife who maintained that she knew nothing about his dishonesty.

Jackson, from Hornsea, was jailed for five years after pleading guilty to:

Mitigating, David Godfrey told that court that Jackson, who was earning £42,000-a-year when he parted with HUU, was a man of previously good character and that his client got "hooked in".

Jackson now faces a Proceeds of Crimes Act hearing to determine how much, if any, of the cash can be recouped.

Senior Financial Investigator Lorraine Baines said Humberside Police are seeking to recoup as much of the stolen cash as possible and appealed for help from the public in identifying Jackson’s assets.