Sainsbury's manager jailed for Nectar fruad

14th Jan 2011 17:12

A former IT manager at supermarket chain Sainsbury's was today jailed for 20 months after being convicted of stealing Nectar points worth more than £80,000.James Stevenson, 45, an employee with the supermarket chain for 20 years, awarded himself more than 17m points using false accounts.In court, the father of two admitted using some of the points to purchase £8,120 worth of goods from the supermarket.Stevenson, who had access to the computer systems that operate Nectar cards, set up 18 bogus accounts between November 2002 and December 2009.Prosecuting lawyer Edward McKiernan, for the prosecution, said that when Stevenson's fraud was discovered by Sainsbury's, he told them he had "discovered a loophole in the system".McKiernan added "There wasn't a proper check in place. He was a trusted employee so no-one was looking over his shoulder."In delivering his sentence the judge, Peter Thornton, said, "Your motive was clearly greed. This was a carefully-planned, well-worked fraud on Sainsbury's."The firm added that it took action when the fraud came to light and was "pleased that the legal process has now come to an end."