A former Ely City footballer has been jailed after helping himself to £176,000 in cash over a five-year period, while working at a bank, to fund his gambling addiction.

Cambs Times: Ely's Josh BridgemanEly's Josh Bridgeman (Image: Archant)

Joshua Bridgeman created a number of fictitious transfers to move money around the Barclays systems, before creaming off the surplus cash.

The 28-year-old, assistant manager at the bank’s Ely branch, would even offer to work Saturdays knowing he would have access to handle cash.

He plundered £176,000 between 2007 and 2012 and was pocketing up to £6,000 a month when he was caught through an internal investigation in March 2012.

He started taking money while working at Barclays’ St Neots branch.

Bridgeman was charged with theft but claimed to have not taken a penny. He admitted falsifying documents but said he did so in an effort to get to the bottom of an error he had discovered.

However, Bridgeman, of Lee Close, Cottenham, was convicted following a trial Cambridge Crown Court on Tuesday. He was jailed for three years.

Det Con Sharon Garrett, from the economic crime unit, said: “Bridgeman knew the systems inside out having worked for the bank since leaving school and was able to use that knowledge to steal the money and stay under the bank’s radar.

“He stole a huge amount of money and the sentence shows how seriously such a breach of trust is taken by the courts.”