More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
A top insurance broker's £100,000 swindle left schools without cover for musical instruments.
Steven Balcombe, 42, cheated customers of Allianz out of rebates and left others without cover to feed his gambling addiction.
And he duped his innocent partner and mother into banking some of the money – telling them they were share dividends.
Maidstone Crown Court heard how the 42-year-old defrauded the company and its customers out of £107,713 between 2017 and 2019.
A judge heard the money was used to fund his secret gambling addiction which had spiralled out of control.
When the fraud was discovered Balcombe's innocent partner and mother were both arrested and questioned by police.
Prosecutor Stephen Shay said that Balcombe had abused his position of trust as an insurance broker with Allianz Music Insurance, which specialises in insurance musical instruments.
In the two years, Balcombe had deviously diverted the money into bank and building society accounts to which he had access.
"There was an invoice fraud. He would invoice his employer's customers, giving them the option of pay for insurance by bank transfer - but substituting details of his account in place of the bank's.
"There were 72 invoices - 10 of which were genuine. So 62 customers who thought they had insurance, didn't."
Mr Shay added that Allianz would have still honoured any claims - but he didn't know if Balcombe was aware of that.
The invoices total £10,196.64 between May and August 2017, he added.
The prosecutor said there was also a "rebate fraud" where Balcombe stole £97,516 from customers who were due a rebate for either not claiming or "who claimed below a certain amount" between December 2017 and August 2019.
'This is a classic case of an addict seeking the next big win in order to get themselves out of the financial hole. That becomes a spiral. Every penny he stole has been lost...'
The prosecutor added: "He was arrested and questioned in May last year and made full and frank admissions. He said he had deceived both his girlfriend and mother... both were arrested.
"He had told them the money was from shares. The money was spent on feeding his gambling habit."
Craig Evans, defending, said: "This case arises out of a man who had hit rock bottom because of his gambling addiction.
"He had worked for the insurers since 2007 and had been a hard-working and conscientious and successful member of that team, working through several promotions and becoming a trusted member of the team."
He said that in 2017, Balcombe's girlfriend was injured and lost her job and because of the loss of one income he began hiding his addiction.
"This is a classic case of an addict seeking the next big win in order to get themselves out of the financial hole. That becomes a spiral. Every penny he stole has been lost.
"He is now truly remorseful and realises he let down his employer, his partner and his mother."
Balcombe, of Quarry Hill Road, Tonbridge, has lost six stone, is trying to turn around his life and is now employed in a warehouse and is working with Breakeven, a charity which assists addicts.
He admitted to fraud charges and received a two-year jail sentence suspended for two years.
The judge, Recorder Daniel Benjamin, told him: "You misled your partner and mother into paying these sums of money into their accounts and they suffered the indignity of being arrested and interviewed and among the multiple victims were schools."
Balcombe, who will also have to do 180 hours of unpaid work as punishment, will also face a probe under the Proceeds Of Crime Act to try to recoup some of the money.
For information on how we can report on court proceedings, click here.
