Disgraced Kettering bookkeeper ordered to repay £150,000

A fraudster who caused two businesses to collapse and left others on the brink after stealing thousands of pounds has been ordered to repay a six-figure sum.

Matthew Clipstone, of Polwell Lane in Barton Seagrave, was jailed for five years in 2018 after using his position as a bookkeeper to help himself to £228,000 from firms in Kettering.

He's since been released from prison and has now been told to pay more than £150,000 in compensation after a confiscation hearing at Northampton Crown Court on May 27.

A judge ordered the 38-year-old to repay £153,955.49, the sum total of his assets, which will be used to compensate his victims.

Clipstone had lied for years that he was a chartered accountant and pocketed thousands of pounds at a time, which he splashed on houses, cars and holidays.

Detective Sergeant Giles Campling, of Northamptonshire Police's economic crime unit, said: “Over seven years, Matthew Clipstone abused his position of trust to defraud a number of companies out of a total of £228,000.

“He was brazen in his actions, transferring money directly to his own bank account and writing cheques to himself while leading the companies involved to believe the money was being used to pay their tax liabilities to HMRC.

“These actions caused two of the businesses to collapse, left the others struggling to survive, and caused untold heartache and stress for those who had trusted Clipstone to take care of their company finances.

“While the compensation order will not cover all the losses Clipstone is responsible for, it will hopefully go some way to helping those he defrauded, and the conclusion of these lengthy proceedings reflects the hard work of our fraud crime team to first secure his conviction, and their subsequent persistence and dedication to ensure that compensation was achieved for his victims.”

Clipstone was also disqualified from acting as a director of a business for 12 years.