A respected NatWest bank manager who was jailed for stealing £185,000 from his elderly customers to fund his internet gambling addiction will pay back all the money, the Old Bailey heard.
Glenn Mason, 56, plundered the accounts of nine pensioners living near his branch in Biggin Hill, Kent, including an 83-year-old woman and a 92-year-old man.
Mason, who was given an award by the Metropolitan Police in Bromley in 2009 for his crime-fighting efforts, got away with the thefts for almost a year before his arrest in July 2012.
His attempts to cover up his crime by transferring money using the identities of two of his colleagues led to them being sacked and charged with fraud.
It was only when Mason pleaded guilty in September that the case against them was dropped at the Old Bailey.
Mason, who was jailed for 15 months in November last year, has said he will pay back the whole £185,000 out of his RBS pension pot.
The bank has already refunded the customers targeted by Mason, and will receive the money as compensation.
Prosecutor David Hughes said: “The benefit was £185,000, and the recoverable amount is greater than that, so the available amount will be the same. The loser here ultimately was RBS, which had to reimburse the account holders.”
Mr Hughes said the bank had started civil proceedings against Mason, as well as the compensation claim that comes after a criminal conviction. He added: “If he makes a payment from his pension pot to RBS, then that would deal with these proceedings and they would come to an end.”
Judge Stephen Kramer QC will confirm the money has been paid at a short hearing on 15 May.
The case against Jeffrey, of Court Road, Orpington, Kent, and Cato, of Robert Street, Plumstead, south London, was discontinued by the prosecution.
