Accountant cheated friends to fund gambling habit

It seems to be in the news a lot recently but yet again we have somebody charged with stealing to fund a gambling habit. This time David Atkinson was jailed for 5 years at Bolton Crown Court after he swindled more than £2.5 million over a 5 year period from  clients including friends who thought they were investing in a scheme exploiting tax loopholes; but actually he was using the cash to fund his gambling habit. Atkinson, 59, an accountant who clients sometimes trusted with their life savings and even included Spotland Methodist Church who had £200,000 “invested” spent vast sums on online casinos and football matches. Judge William Morris said “The victim statements represent the theft of expectation, the theft of stability. They represent hopes dashed. So many of the statements can only be described as heart rending.” “You knew your victims well. You cultivated their friendship in order to obtain their investment. You knew of their circumstances. You knew how they would be devastated emotionally and financially”  One of his clients, Stanley Andrew, invested over £80,000 to provide for his children and grandchildren and was so devastated by the news that he had been fiddled by someone he called a friend he was never the same again. In fact family believe that the fact that he was diagnosed with lung cancer and died 8 months later was in part due to Atkinson and they blame him for the death. Despite writing letters of apology to his victims and handing himself in it was only when the pressure from investors became too great.