A “devious” IT manager for a Mayfair children’s charity splashed out on alcohol and expensive cigars on expenses while staying at a four-star hotel, a court heard.
Christopher Wiseman, 40, abused the charity’s credit card during a stay at the Sheraton in New Delhi while working for the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation.
Kingston crown court heard Wiseman had stolen a cache of electronics including an iPad Air and MacBook Air from his former job at Battersea currency exchange firm Halo Financial. When he joined the children’s charity, he then stole a laptop and three mobile phones as well as using the expenses account.
Wiseman admitted two counts of theft and after a hearing Judge Stephen John ruled he had stolen all the missing items. “He has tried to duck and dive to avoid or minimise his responsibility,” said the judge. “He is a devious and manipulative man.
“Immediately after leaving Halo in no time at all he was dishonest in relation to the charity, taking equipment and making extravagant and unauthorised expenses.”
The judge said Wiseman faces a 21-month jail sentence, but he deferred it until April to give him a chance to pay back £9,169 to his former bosses. “If you make payment in full you will come back before me and I will suspend the term of imprisonment,” he said. “If you fail to pay in full I will be sending you to prison with immediate effect.”
Wiseman, from Bromley, became an £89,000-a-year IT director with train company Govia Thameslink after leaving the children’s charity, before being made redundant.
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