‘Devious’ account manager, 37, jailed after stealing £3.8m from employers to feed gambling habit

A cruel gambling addict stole £3.8m from a family firm and forced it into liquidation – leaving 30 people jobless.

Accounts manager Paul Hawkridge , 37, stole the money from the family business that took him ‘under their wing’ when he was just 18.

Hawkridge, of Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, had worked at international shipping firm Orient Worldwide Shipping  for nearly 20 years before cops were called in June 2016.

The family firm had even paid for Hawkridge to take exams, but a probe into the Basildon company’s finances discovered he had been taking money since 2011, by creating bulk payments to the company and then transferring deposits into his own personal accounts.

Paul Hawkridge , 37, from Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, has been jailed for six years after stealing £3.8 million from a shipping company he had worked for since he was a teenager. The company went into administration with the loss of 30 jobs

Most of the cash was spent on Hawkridge’s gambling lifestyle, but he also paid off the mortgage on his family home 15 years early using the money he stole.

He was jailed for six years for two counts of fraud, and three years for money laundering, to run concurrently, at Basildon Crown Court yesterday.

The fraudster pleaded guilty to the charges last month after having been arrested in 2016.

Detective Constable Angie Coxon, of Essex Police, said: ‘Hawkridge’s actions were selfish, calculative and devious.

‘He stole millions of pounds from the very employers who took him under their wing and helped train and support him emotionally and financially.

‘His colleagues were also left redundant by his actions and were forced to find other jobs.

‘This fraud caused trauma and had a massive impact on the victims and their families.

‘In this case the effect has been severe, the reputation of an upstanding, hardworking company has been destroyed and their futures irretrievably altered both from a personal aspect and within the shipping business.’

After Hawkridge was sentenced at Basildon Crown Court (pictured) yesterday, police called his actions 'selfish, calculative and devious'

After Hawkridge was sentenced at Basildon Crown Court (pictured) yesterday, police called his actions ‘selfish, calculative and devious’

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