Halfords manager stole £90,000 in coupon refund scam to fund gambling addiction

A Halfords manager stole £90,000 as part of a coupon refund scam to fund his gambling addiction.

Gary Ridgewell was been handed a 30-month jail term after concocting a dodgy ruse that saw him steal tens of thousands from the automotive retailer. Over five years, the manager funded his gambling habit by stealing money from stores in Perth and Dumbarton.

Perth Sheriff Court heard how Ridgewell had been battling with a gambling addiction since his early teens and had constantly struggled to bankroll his lifestyle. During sentencing, Sheriff Alison McKay remarked: "You embezzled the sum of £90,000 from your employers over a period of five years. That is a significant breach of trust. Restitution is something I can take into account, but even had there been complete restitution, custody would still be at the front of my mind."

Initially accused of filching a staggering £178,000, Ridgewell has yet to repay any part of his ill-gotten gains. The court learned how he siphoned off dosh from the tills and fiddled with customer coupons to fudge the figures while overseeing the branches in question.

Ridgewell's scheme unravelled after Halfords triggered a company-wide probe which unearthed the shady transactions at both his shops, reports the Daily Record. Ridgewell, 51, admitted to the reduced figure of embezzlement committed across the Perth and Dumbarton outlets from January 2013 through March 2018.

Fiscal depute Callum Gordon revealed that Ridgewell, who became the manager of Dumbarton's branch in September 2010 and later transferred to Perth in April 2016, was suspended on March 7, 2018, due to emerging allegations.

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Mr Gordon explained: "He was employed there as store manager until March 7, 2018, when he was suspended in light of the allegations." While at the helm of the Dumbarton store, Ridgewell stumbled upon a loophole in the system for processing customer coupons. Mr Gordon detailed: "The accused realised that by artificially increasing the value of the coupon, the cash balance would be higher than the physical cash balance in the till. He realised that cash could be removed from the till, without formally being withdrawn, and the total recorded balance would match the physical balance."

Ridgewell also discovered a way to cover shortfalls, according to Mr Gordon, who said: "He also found that if there was not enough cash in the till to facilitate the removal of cash, he could transfer money from the safe."

His fraudulent activities remained undetected until Halfords initiated an internal investigation company-wide into a separate issue concerning missing funds. The court heard that this probe, overseen by the firm's national fraud investigator, required all shop managers to report their safe balances.

It was during this investigation that the fraud investigator noticed the Perth store had unusually high safe balances, second only to Dumbarton, a discrepancy attributed to the large number of fake coupons registered by Ridgewell.

"It led to the uncovering of the accused's actions," said Mr Gordon. "The investigator found that coupons had resulted in increases in safe balances at Dumbarton, which stopped when the accused left. The balance began to rise in Perth after the accused had been transferred." CCTV footage from the Perth store captured the accused pocketing cash from the till and then recording a transaction. When confronted by management, Ridgewell spilled the beans.

Mr Gordon revealed: "He admitted he used this method on a regular basis and increased the amount of money over time. The accused said he had a gambling problem and that he had used some of the money to support it." After being caught red-handed, Ridgewell, hailing from Leny Road, Deanston, Doune, was sacked following a disciplinary hearing in March 2018.

Defence solicitor David Holmes stated: "Mr Ridgewell is someone who, unfortunately, was taken to gambling from the age of 13 and it has been a problem for him through most of his life. He and his brother have joined Gamblers Anonymous and they have registered with a site which means they cannot have an account with any gambling company."