A former bank manager stole thousands of pounds from a widow to fund his gambling debts.
Michael Roberts, 39, set up an ISA on behalf of Valerie McKelvie in March 2018. He then moved £20,000 into his own account in two transactions five months later. Roberts, from Oulton Close, Oxton worked as a bank manager at the Yorkshire Bank branch on Albert Road in Widnes.
Liverpool Crown Court heard how the victim had lost her husband two months before setting up the ISA and intended to surprise her daughter by leaving it as her inheritance. The victim questioned why she had not received documents relating to the ISA and visited a Virgin Money branch after the banks merged in St Helens on August 3, 2021, where she learnt with "great shock and stress" that £20,000 was missing.
