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Two Abbey workers trousered £120,000
Paul Cheston, Evening Standard28 Aug 2008
Two bank workers stole thousands of pounds from cash machines by stuffing bundles of notes down their trousers.
Assistant manager Simeon Andrews and personal banker James Hollywood, both 24, took more than £120,000 from the Abbey.
The pair took money from cash machines then slipped into the lavatories of the branch in Hammersmith and split the proceeds.
They were caught after hidden cameras were installed in the bank.
Hollywood, of Hampton Hill, and Andrews, of Putney, admitted conspiracy to steal between January last year and June this year and will be sentenced in October.
Pamela Reiss, prosecuting, told Blackfriars crown court: "The conspiracy involved stealing cartridge money from the ATM machines over time, taking substantial amounts.
"When the money is put into the cash machines it sometimes chews it up or twists it around, so there's a certain loss that the bank is willing to accept.
"In this case, the shortfall was seen to exceed these what they call natural discrepancies."
In May this year bank investigators installed hidden cameras by two of the cash machines in the branch.
Miss Reiss told the court: "You could see the two men actually stealing. At one point, money was being stuffed down trousers."
She added: "On one occasion, Mr Andrews unlocks the machine and goes straight to the toilet, into a single cubicle, where Mr Hollywood joins him.
"On another occasion, Mr Hollywood is seen taking large wads of notes and putting them into a glasses case."
The court heard that the amounts stolen each time ranged from £500 to £10,000.
In total, Andrews and Hollywood stole some £120,600, none of which has been recovered.
When Andrews was arrested he had a wrap of cocaine on him.
The defendants were remanded in custody until the sentence hearing.
