THE manager of Basingstoke crematorium has avoided going to prison after faking petty cash reports to steal more than £4,000 from his employer.

Andrew Leslie James of Upper Farm Road, Oakley, admitted to nine counts of false accounting last month, after previously denying the charges.

The 52-year-old ‘abused his position of power’ to steal a total of £4119.26 in ‘relatively small amounts’ between January 2012 and March 2018 in order to ‘pay his outstanding bills’, Winchester Crown Court heard today (March 12).

Gemma Noble, prosecuting, told the court that the defendant had “overall responsibility” for the petty cash system at the crematorium company, which allowed members of staff of the company, Dignity Plc., to either advise the admin team of their requirement for funds, or claim return of funds after purchasing an item for the company out of their own pocket.

On two occasions, James raised items, keeping the cash despite the invoice being paid by cheque, and on a further seven kept petty cash for items which were never ordered.

Dignity Plc is one of the country’s largest providers of funeral services, with funeral directors across the country, including two in Basingstoke on Worting Road and Seal Road. It also manages 46 crematoria as The Crematorium & Memorial Group, including Basingstoke Crematorium where Mr James was employed as manager.

Following an internal investigation within the company, James was suspended, and the police informed.

Ms Noble described the act as an “abuse of position” and said the company sought compensation of £33, 312.

In mitigation, Brian Stork, defending, explained James’ late guilty plea: “He was putting off the evil day even though he knew that day would come. He had been thinking about it long and hard and had been on the edge of telephoning his solicitor the day before but could not bring himself to do it.”

Mr Stork said his client understood that would mean he could not get as much credit for his guilty plea, but added: “That said, in the end this defendant did plead guilty.”

He continued: “He is a man of good character which makes his appearance here today even more tragic.

“The money that he took was never spent on any luxuries, it was always spent on paying outstanding bills that he or his father had. These offences were not committed out of greed, he is not a greedy man. He was taking money from his employers so he could try to maintain the pretty frugal lifestyle he and his father live.”

Mr Stork added that James had “worked all his life”, sitting his A levels a year early and getting a job with HSBC at the age of 17, where he stayed for 21 years before moving to Dignity Plc., and even finding short-term work since his dismissal from Basingstoke Crematorium.

He has “never left home”, and still lives with his father.

“He just tries to make his father’s life as comfortable as he can and their life was made more complicated when the defendant’s brother moved back into the family home in 2008,” he said.

Urging the judge to consider a community or suspended sentence, Mr Stork said there had been “no hint of a repeat” in offending since 2018 and that his client, while keen to continue working, had “no intention” of returning to a financial role.

Addressing James, Recorder Noel Casey said: “Your late guilty plea does not reflect well on you in my view.

"You were in a position of trust, responsibility, and power, and the fraudulent activity was conducted over a sustained period of time.”

However, Recorder Casey said he would take into account family circumstances and good character.

“I am satisfied that the custody threshold has been crossed in this case. However there are a number of different factors that suggest that a sentence in your case can be suspended,” he said.

The judge handed James concurrent sentences of four months for each of the counts of false accounting, suspended for two years, as well as 25 days of rehabilitation activities and 120 hours of unpaid work, but no compensation order “in view of your means”.

In a statement to the Gazette, a spokesperson for The Crematorium and Memorial Group said: “We would like to reassure bereaved families that they will not have been impacted by the criminal actions of Andrew James, who deliberately set out to defraud his employer.

“Mr James’ acts of embezzlement and false accounting were uncovered by our own auditing processes. His conduct falls well below the standards we expect and he was dismissed in August 2018 following our disciplinary processes. We provided the Police with our evidence and assisted them at every stage to help bring about this prosecution.”