Council accountant jailed for five years for stealing £1,000,000 from Gedling Borough Council

A council accountant has been jailed for five years for stealing almost £1,000,000 from his employer.

Alan Doig, 57, stole from Gedling Borough Council in Nottinghamshire for almost two decades.

He made 86 fraudulent transactions and he used the money to fund his gambling addiction.

Doig started making fraudulent payments in 2003.

He was only caught in 2021 when Covid-19 restrictions forced working practices to change.

Doig pleaded guilty to fraud by abuse of position and obtaining money transfer by deception.

A business impact statement from the council was read out during the sentencing.

It said: ”He [Doig] was an expert and used his position to abuse the system. The money he stole would have been 6% of the council’s 2024-2025 budget. This has had an impact on every single resident in the borough.

“On an average of more than £46,000 per annum, that could have employed extra street cleaners, bin collectors or gardeners who would have made a real difference to the borough."

Gedling Council reported earlier this year they would be forced to make cuts to find £3.5 million over the next three years.

The council said that they were confident that it was an isolated incident and that they would recover all the money he stole.

Mark Kennedy from the Crown Prosecution Service said: “Doig knew the systems at his workplace and avoided detection over many years.

"However, once his crimes were detected, there was a clear trail leading to every fraudulent transaction he made.

"In the face of this overwhelming evidence, he has admitted the full extent of his offending and has today been held to account for his actions.”

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