A military clerk robbed almost £1 million from the Ministry of Defence to pay for hair transplants, Turkey teeth and cosmetic surgery for a fake six-pack in an expenses scam, a court has been told.
Former corporal Aaron Stelmach-Purdie, 34, headed the scheme while working at Regent’s Park Barracks in central London.
He cheated taxpayers of £911,677, of which he kept £557,093 for himself.
Stelmach-Purdie had a passion for the good life – undergoing a hair transplant and flying to Turkey for teeth-whitening and abdominal implants.
When police investigated his house, they discovered three fake Patek Philippe watches, nine pairs of Christian Louboutin shoes, and a Louis Vuitton luggage set.
Five other people, who came before Stelmach-Purdie in court yesterday and were found guilty of money laundering and conspiracy to commit fraud, assisted him in running the expenditures scam.
Stelmach-Purdie, from Oldham in Greater Manchester, was told he faces prison for fraud and money laundering after uploading bogus claims onto an online admin portal from November 2014 to January 2016.
Southwark Crown Court heard how he was helped by five other clerks, former sergeant Roger Clerice, 28, Allan O’Neil, 48, Lee Richards, 41, Anthony Sharwood, 38, and Peter Wilson, 55.
Prosecutor Domonic Connolly told the court: ‘This case concerns a series of frauds carried out by a number of employees of the Ministry of Defence at their administrative headquarters situated within Regents Park Barracks in Central London.
‘These defendants, who were all employed at the Regent’s Park Barracks made a series of fictitious claims to expenses and allowances that they were not entitled to.
‘As a result of these frauds, there has been a loss of public funds totalling £911,677.66. These are public funds that had been demarcated for the defence of the realm and the protection of its armed services.’
Prosecutors said the fraud centred around the use of the Joint Personal Administration (JPA) – an online administrative system used by the UK armed forces to pay the salaries of staff, including claims for expenses and allowances.
While he was responsible for the management of claims to expenses and allowances, Stelmach-Purdie used his position to make fraudulent claims on his JPA account and the accounts of others, the court was told.
He then used the bank accounts of third parties, including his mother and sister, to conceal the proceeds of the fraud, the court heard.
The other defendants told the court they were approached by Stelmach-Purdie in or shortly after December 2014, when he claimed he had found a way to ‘make some money manipulating JPA’, prosecutors said.
Stelmach-Purdie’s line manager Clerice, who was an administration specialist, received £7,691 from the scam. He pleaded guilty to money laundering.
Wilson, a former lance sergeant who retired from the army in October 2015, continued to receive £230,400 in dishonest claims made by Stelmach-Purdie for months until December 31 2015.
Between June and December 2015, Wilson’s JPA account was used to make 28 fraudulent claims totalling £378,662.
Sharwood, a former corporal in the Royal Marines who retired from the Armed Forces in January this year, was involved in eight fraudulent expense claims made between January 2015 and November 2015, totalling £28,935.
The defendant, from Bromsgrove in Worcestershire, confessed to conspiracy to commit fraud and money laundering in March 2023.
Richards, a former lance sergeant from Amesbury in Wiltshire, was convicted by a jury of 103 fraudulent claims made between March 2015 and January 2016, totalling £434,825.
He retained around £160,000 of that sum, the court heard.
Wilson, from Kidderminster in Worcestershire, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud and money laundering in March 2023.
The total value of the fraud he pleaded guilty to is £385,432 involving 28 fraudulent claims made between June 2015 and January 2016.
A total of £378,662.26 passed through his bank account, £149,781 of which he retained, the court was told.
O’Neil, a former sergeant from Droitwich in Worcestershire, was involved in three fraudulent claims totalling £18,218 and has pleaded guilty to money laundering.
Stelmach-Purdie, whom the court heard was involved in all of the 161 fraudulent claims, was discharged from the Armed Forces in January 2016 after he was convicted and sentenced over four counts of sexual activity with a child.
When interviewed by police shortly after over his fraudulent activity, Stelmach-Purdie said he became involved because of the state of poor mental health brought about by the sexual allegations made against him.
Prosecutor Connolly told the judge: ‘When he (Stelmach-Purdie) commenced his job in administration, he was aware people were making claims for allowances that they were not entitled to.
‘He claimed he felt people knew of these proceedings and would use it against him if he didn’t comply with their claims.
‘He would allow claims to go through for a percentage in return.’
Stelmach-Purdie pleaded guilty to seven counts of conspiracy to commit fraud and one count of money laundering in August 2023.
The sentencing of all six defendants is scheduled for Tuesday at Southwark Crown Court.
I’m curious about how they plan to repay all of this money, and what everyone is missing is that this was a military theft, which means their security was flawed. How on earth did the MoD miss this? Indeed, the UK MoD need to seriously tighten up its internal auditing processes and procedures.
Years ago there would have been a paper trail. An application/claim would have been signed by an applicant and then signed off by a designated superior officer before being handed to the designated Paymaster for vetting and payment.
The introduction of IT/computers dispensed with the paper trail and has now allowed clever people to hack into and misuse the system.
Isn’t anyone else concerned that he was employed with the MoD after being a convicted sex offender?
This is only the beginning. The MoD has to be thoroughly examined, particularly the procurement personnel, but this is the public sector, and if a humble clerk can pocket that amount of money before being caught, then how much can somebody else higher up the ladder steal before being caught?
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 