Former Sky Bet head of IT jailed for selling £220,000 worth of company laptops

Sky Bet’s former head of IT has been jailed for two years after being found guilty of fraud after selling over £220,000 worth of company laptops on eBay for personal gain.

Matt Richmond, 44, carried out the scam for nearly a year, Leeds Crown Court was told, ordering Apple MacBook Pros from suppliers before selling them privately on the internet.

Richmond’s role allowed him to order up to £50,000 of IT equipment per month without needing a counter signature. Additionally, he requested the laptops were delivered to his home address rather than Sky Betting & Gaming’s headquarters in the centre of Leeds.

An investigation into Richmond’s activity was launched after fellow employees reported he had been ordering more equipment than required. An audit discovered he had ordered 113 laptops between January and December 2018, worth a total of £220,044.

Emails showed Richmond had asked the suppliers not to enrol the laptops into Sky Bet’s internal systems as they were to be used as prizes, or for graduates who would be leaving the firm. He also removed serial numbers from the devices.

Richmond, who worked for Sky Bet for more than three years, was unable to explain why £243,000 was transferred to his bank account from PayPal, citing mental health issues and alcohol abuse, with him drinking up to two and a half litres of vodka daily during 2018.

Prosecutor James Lake said: "He said he lost track of time because of his bipolar."

An eBay account in his name also showed sales of Apple Macbook Pros.

Richmond, of Hough End View, Bramley, pleaded guilty to fraud.

Michael Collins, mitigating, said: "It is clear that this was wholly unsophisticated and impossible to imagine circumstances where he would not be discovered."

Jailing Richmond for two years, judge Mushtaq Khokhar said: "This was a breach of trust which your employer placed in you. I'm afraid it has to be a custodial sentence and nothing else."

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