A FAMILY firm which had £200,000 looted by a manager with a gambling addiction have got almost half of it back after police retrieved it from online bookmakers.

Richard Jacobs stole £216,608 from J&R Food Services and spent most of it on a seven year gambling spree in which he wagered a total of £460,000.

His fraud hit the firm so hard they had to cancel staff bonuses and increase its overdraft limit at the bank. Now it is going to get 43 per cent of the money back.

A six month inquiry by specialist financial investigators has identified £94,976 in accounts held by various betting companies.

The money was either unused credits, unclaimed winnings or cash for bets that should not have been accepted.

Recorder Mr Mathew Turner approved an agreed settlement at Exeter Crown Court which identified the benefit from crime as £216,608.97 and the available assets as £94,976.56.

He ordered that Jacobs should serve an extra year if it not paid within 28 days, but there is no danger that this will happen as the money is already being held by the police.

At the sentencing hearing in June last year Jacobs, aged 50, of Steeple Drive, Alphington, admitted fraud and was jailed for 30 months.

Mr Nigel Wraith, prosecuting, said Jacobs joined the company in 2006 and was promoted despite them knowing about him stealing from a previous employer.

By the time he started stealing money in 2013 he was a senior manager on £38,000 a year with the ability to create and pay false invoices. He started in a small way but the fraud increased when he realised he could get away with it.

He was caught in February 2020 when the finance director asked to check the PayPal accounts. He returned his company car and sent a resignation e-mail admitting the fraud.

He stole a total of £216,609.97, which was a few thousand more than his gambling losses. In all he gambled £460,000 with winnings of £264,000, leaving a loss of £196,000.

In a victim impact statement, director Nicola Whitechurch said: ‘The loss had a detrimental effect on our 100 employees. It meant 100 bonuses not paid and 100 people having to work twice as hard to pay for his selfishness.

‘He was considered as one of the family and a friend and we have been left personally devastated by his betrayal.’

Miss Holly Gilbery, defending, said Jacobs was shocked by how much his fraud had added up to and has written a letter of apology to the company in which he expresses his shame.

He has overcome his gambling addiction and found a new job with a company which supplies the NHS.