Aylesbury man jailed for stealing more than £223,000 from small business

A man from Aylesbury has been jailed for stealing more than £223,000 from a small business in Oxfordshire.

Philippos Economides, aged 55, of Whitehead Way, was sentenced to five years and four months in prison after pleading guilty to one count of fraud by abuse of position at Aylesbury Crown Court on Wednesday (29/1).

The judge also imposed a serious crime prevention order for five years after Economides’ release from prison.

Economides started working as a financial controller with a small, new Oxfordshire-based company in February 2023.

However, Economides failed to disclose his previous convictions for fraud by abuse of position and theft by an employee during the recruitment process.

Economides resigned in December 2023, claiming that a lack of cash funding into the company had made his position impossible to fulfil; he left a month later.

The company recruited a new financial controller, who found their finances to be in disarray. They identified a large number of payments to a beneficiary called ‘PH ECO’, which Economides claimed was a Chinese supplier but he had never received supporting paperwork for the transactions.

In reality, the transactions to ‘PH ECO’ were all paid into accounts held by Economides, totalling more than £223,000 over the period of his employment. This caused severe financial difficulties for the aggrieved company who were forced to borrow emergency money at an expensive rate of interest to avoid insolvency.

Economides was arrested in April last year and, during his recorded interview, he gave a prepared statement making a full admission to stealing his employer’s money to fund his out of control gambling habit.

Our investigation into Economides’ bank accounts, over the period of his employment, evidenced huge expenditure of over £314,000 to gambling companies, with none of the stolen money left.

Economides was charged on 16 October last year.

Head of our Central Fraud Unit and lead investigating officer, Detective Inspector Duncan Wynn, said: “I am pleased Philippos Economides has been convicted following a thorough and extensive investigation by officers from the Central Fraud Unit.

“The sentence reflects the severity of the offences whereby Economides systematically abused his position to defraud his employer of significant funds, totalling close to a quarter of a million pounds.

“Economides is a serial fraudster and did not disclose his past to his unsuspecting employer who took him on in good faith and entrusted him with their finances.

“Economides abused the trust placed in him for his own gain and caused great harm to the business.

“I hope the length of sentence imposed will act as a deterrent to others and demonstrate our commitment to pursue fraudsters and bring them to justice on behalf of victims.”