(2 February 2010 – UK) An employee of HSBC has been jailed for two years for stealing £32,000 (A$57,000) from a man who perished in the London bombings.Paul Walsh, who worked for an HSBC branch in Cambridge, withdrew the money in over 90 transactions using a duplicated card.
The account was owned by Anthony Fatayi-Williams, who died on the No 30 bus in Tavistock Square.
Mr Walsh was jailed for two years after admitting six counts of false accounting, one of fraud and one of theft.
The court hearing the case heard that there had been ‘considerable delay’ obtaining a death certificate for Mr Fatayi-Williams due to the circumstances surrounding his death.
As a result of the death certificate delay the account could not be closed, however due to an ‘oversight’ by the bank it remained accessible.
Neil King, prosecutor, told the court that Mr Walsh slowly increased the victim’s overdraft limit, eventually pushing it up to £38,100.
Mr Walsh was fired in 2007 after an internal investigation uncovered the thefts.
A spokesman for HSBC said that this has been a difficult process for the family of Mr Fatayi-Williams and the bank is pleased the matter is now closed.