'Evil' Nationwide bank worker who stole £11,000 from customer accounts escapes jail after turning his life around

A bank worker who stole over £11,000 by syphoning money from Nationwide customers’ accounts escaped an immediate prison sentence at Northampton Crown Court after a judge conceded he had turned his life around.

Tyler Impey worked in the building society’s Kettering branch when he stole cash from accounts belonging to 10 vulnerable and elderly customers to feed his alcohol and gambling addictions.

One victim shared an account with her husband, who has terminal cancer. She said, in a statement, that Impey had seemed like a “nice person,” adding: “When I found out what happened, I was shocked and really upset. I had trouble sleeping and would think about it often.”

Impey, aged 39, told the court: “I will forever regret my actions and I am disgusted with myself. What I did was nothing short of evil. I was at complete rock bottom at the time, I’d lost all control of my life. The level I was drinking and gambling got completely out of control.

“Had I not met my partner I would probably still be in that same place. She’s changed everything around me. I’m a step father and a father, I do not drink even on birthdays or Christmas, I don’t gamble, I have a job and like to think I’m a good role model to my children.”

Impey, now of Fairmead Crescent, Edgware, represented himself on Thursday (December 8) after pleading guilty to ten counts of fraud by abuse of position. He claimed that £2,000 he saved with a view to repay Nationwide was spent on legal costs.

Nicola Patten, prosecuting, said Impey started working at the building society in October 2017 and committed the frauds between February and May 2018. Victims would visit the branch, ask for cash but Impey would keep some of the money for himself.

Ms Patten added that 18 transactions coincided with deposits into Impey’s own account and 78 purchases at online gaming companies, totalling £7,393.

The defendant admitted the fraud when challenged and was sacked in August 2018. He was interviewed by police in October 2021 when he again admitted to the offences but denied deliberately targeting vulnerable people.

All of the stolen money has been refunded to each of the victims’ accounts, although one customer’s daughter also gave a statement that said they were both very angry when they found out Impey had forged her elderly mother’s signature. She said her mother’s signature is usually very neat but Impey tried to make it look like an old person’s handwriting and did not even spell her name correctly, adding: “My mum was angry that he treated her like she was stupid.”

Recorder Stuart Sprawson sentenced Impey to 16 months imprisonment for each offence, to be served concurrently, telling him: “Your fraud undermined the trust and faith which customers have in the whole banking system.”

But he suspended the term for two years, adding: “Addiction to alcohol and gambling led to your downfall. You were remorseful then and you are remorseful now.

“You have effectively rehabilitated yourself. With what you have achieved in the last four years, I am quite satisfied that I can deal with you by means other than an immediate prison sentence.”