Tesco man stole £100k shares meant for boss with the same name

12 April 2012

A Tesco checkout manager who sold £100,000 of shares meant for his executive namesake has been jailed for two years.

Jeffrey Adams was accidentally sent certificates which should have gone to one of Tesco's leading US executives.

But instead of them going to the chief operating officer of Tesco's Fresh and Easy business in America, the 44,000 shares were credited to the shopfloor worker and the blunder was not discovered for seven years. Adams, who worked at a 24-hour store, used the money to buy a home with his second wife.

He received 13,326 shares in May 2002 and a further 31,094 two months later. He sold £57,000 worth in April 2004 before taking a further £42,000 in June 2005. When he was arrested in November 2009, the defendant claimed he had been given the shares in the will of his late grandfather Albert Booth.

Prosecutor Isabel Delamere told St Albans crown court: "Jeff Adams has a high-level executive career and as a senior manager participates in the Tesco executive share scheme. The defendant was employed in Burton on Trent as a checkout manager and controller."

The fraud was discovered in October 2009 when Jeff Adams wanted to sell some shares to purchase a property in California. It was discovered they were not in his account with the firm Equiniti.

An investigation found that 13,326 shares had been sent by mistake to the defendant on May 9, 2002. The same thing happened again on July 22, 2002 when he received 31,094 shares. Adams sold £56,960 of shares on April 26, 2004 and a further £42,454 on June 9, 2005.

The 46-year-old was convicted of two counts of obtaining money transfers by deception. His defence said Adams was now on benefits and was being pursued through the courts by Tesco.

Jailing him, Judge Stephen Gullick said: "It was not a professional fraud. You took advantage of the situation. You saw an opportunity to make a good deal of money."

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