A CROOKED manager has been ordered to repay £55,000 that he swindled from his bosses and used to fund a gambling addiction.

Ian Walkley stole the money when he was an executive running the Ceva transport depot at Exminster and abused his position to approve fake invoices.

He used a colleague’s log-in and posed as them to authorise the payments which he channeled through another delivery firm and his wife’s cleaning business.

He was caught by chance during an internal investigation into allegations of workplace bullying. His laptop was examined and the bogus log-ins were spotted.

He had worked at the Exminster depot of international logistics firm Ceva for 20 years and was a highly respected and trusted manager in charge of its overall operations.

Walkley has now been ordered to repay the stolen £55,000 within three months or go to jail for 15 months in an agreed settlement under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Judge Peter Johnson certified that his benefit from crime was £55,000 and that his available assets were £121,820, which includes a pension policy, and that he was therefore capable of repaying the full amount.

Miss Felicity Payne, prosecuting, said the figures had been agreed.

In the original case last August, Walkley, aged 59, of Old Village, Willand, admitted fraud and was jailed for 18 months, suspended for two years, and ordered to do 250 hours unpaid community work

At that hearing a different judge was told how he created false invoices which led to money being paid to a friend’s company, supposedly for work which had been subcontracted.

The cash was then funneled back to him disguised as payments to a cleaning company run by his wife Sharon.

A more senior executive uncovered the anomalies after examining his laptop during an investigation into workplace bullying. He told police he needed the money to pay off gambling debts.

Mr Stephen Nunn, defending, told the earlier hearing that Walkley has had to wait almost two years for the case to come to court and has used the time profitably to set up his own small distribution business.

His arrest has caused problems within his family but he is still supporting his wife even though there is some estrangement between them.

Walkley has never been in trouble before and hopes to repay the money he stole. He has sought help for his gambling problem.