more than £3,000 of the £30,000-plus he stole.A THIEVING member of a medical imaging company’s finance team has escaped being jailed after a judge heard he had already repaid
And the judge was told an agreement had been reached with the Warwick-based company which will see Robert Chamberlain paying back the full amount by January 2023.
Chamberlain had pleaded guilty at Warwick Crown Court to fraud while in a position of trust at Alliance Medical Ltd, which is based at Warwick Technology Park in Gallows Hill.
But at a hearing in May sentence was deferred by Judge Sylvia de Bertodano for him to show he meant his promise to repay the money he had taken to fund a gambling addiction.
Andrew Tucker, defending, said the 31-year-old, of William Kirby Close, Tile Hill, Coventry, had so far paid back £3,742 and was now making regular payments of £750 a month.
Sentencing Chamberlain to 16 months in prison suspended for two years, Judge de Bertodano told him: “You have done what I asked you to do. I will keep my side of the deal.”
During the original hearing prosecutor Ian Speed said Chamberlain had been a member of the finance team at Alliance Medical, which provides private medical imaging services.
Between March and November last year he used his position to put through 48 refunds to people who had paid for MRI scans but were members of private medical schemes.
In fact the payments totalling £32,742 were being paid into his own bank account.
But the company’s financial director became suspicious about the unusually high number of refunds relating to MRI scans.
When challenged Chamberlain admitted what he had been doing, and was dismissed, and the police were contacted.
Following his arrest, Chamberlain made full admissions, explaining that he had taken the money because of a gambling addiction.
Mr Speed added that Chamberlain, who had no previous convictions, had entered into an agreement with Alliance Medical to pay the money back.
Charles Crinion, defending at that hearing, said: “This offence was committed because of the gambling addiction
“It is now under control, and he has been receiving professional treatment from Gamcare, and is going to meetings which are held twice a week in Coventry.”
