Plans to retire in Goa land Briton in jail

LONDON: A former payments clerk at the Birmingham City Council has been jailed for two years for perpetuating a 2.5 million pounds fraud on the council so that he could retire in Goa.
Former clerk Lee Seymour Jones entered into an illegal pact with Gary John Price, a jobless person, and used the latter's bank account to divert funds from the council.
Jones tricked the council by writing a letter claiming to be from a construction firm that was involved in work worth millions of pounds for the council. The letter said that the company had changed its bank account.
However, the new account details mentioned were those of Prince. The idea was to use the money diverted to Prince's account to finance Jones' retirement plans in Goa.
When the council deposited 2.5 million pounds in the account, the bank alerted the police, which led to the arrest of Jones and Prince.
Both pleaded guilty of conspiracy to defraud and all the money was later recovered.
At the Birmingham Crown Court, Jones was sentenced to two years in jail while Prince was sentenced to 51 weeks, suspended for two years, and told to complete 250 hours of unpaid work.