Finance boss from Flintshire stole £30,000 of taxpayers money to fund cocaine habit

A Flintshire man has admitted stealing £30,000 of taxpayers money to fund his £150-a-week cocaine addiction, a court has been told.

Craig Stockham from Holywell abused his position as a finance director of two non-profit organisations to siphon thousands of pounds off into his own bank account, reports the Warrington Guardian

Stockham 33, a former Holywell High School pupil who has previously worked for Flintshire County Council, was caught out by colleagues on his last week of work at LiveWire and Culture Warrington, an organisation which provides and manages leisure services for Warrington Borough Council.

Halton Magistrates’ Court, in Cheshire, heard how he abused his position as the finance director the two non-profit organisations, stealing around £28,670 of taxpayers money from the organisations and depositing the money into his own bank account between January and November this year.

During the hearing in Tuesday, magistrates heard how Stockham had been recently promoted to a senior role giving him access to funds and the responsibility of making strategic management decisions.

Stockham was suspended from his job in November, an investigation uncovered payments had been made to his own personal bank account, the internal review found he had stolen around £24,000 from LiveWire and £4670 from Culture Warrington, the court heard.

Defence barrister Nick Terry advised the magistrates to send the case to the crown court, he will be sentenced at Warrington Crown Court at a date yet to be confirmed.