TWO former employees of Barclays bank have been jailed after using the Bracknell branch to steal almost £150,000 from customers including from a deceased man.

Waseem Ahmed, 22, of Lismore Park, Slough, and Hodaif Nadeem, 22, of Telford Drive, Slough, carried out the frauds at Barclays Bank branches in Slough and Bracknell, where they worked as apprentice cashiers.

Ahmed was jailed for four and a half years, while Nadeem was jailed for three and a half years at Reading Crown Court on Friday (December 20).

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It comes after an eight day trial in November, during which a jury found Ahmed guilty of one count of conspiracy to defraud, one count of conspiracy to transfer criminal property by means of fraudulent money transfers, and one count of unauthorised access to a computer.

Nadeem was found guilty of one count of conspiracy to defraud and one count of conspiracy to transfer criminal property by means of fraudulent money transfers.

During April and May 2017, the defendants defrauded customer accounts to the value of just under £150,000.

They did this by transferring large sums of cash out of customers' accounts and into 'mule' accounts.

They also conducted fraudulent transactions over the counter where several thousand pounds were handed over to people who were 'very obviously not' the account holders.

During the last week of July 2017 both Ahmed and Nadeem each opened another five bank accounts at different banks.

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These remained largely inactive until September 2017 when Ahmed's accounts were used to funnel £29,030 of stolen funds to other bank accounts. The accounts opened by Nadeem were not used.

The fraud emerged after Ahmed conducted just over £40,000 worth of transactions from the account of a deceased man.

An investigation was then carried out by Barclays Bank and subsequently Thames Valley Police.

Ahmed was arrested on August 8, 2017, while Nadeem was arrested on January 19, 2018.

They were charged with the offences on August 15, last year.

Investigating officer, Detective Constable Rob Gibson said: "The sentences handed down by the court reflects the seriousness of the crimes committed by Waseem Ahmed and Hodaif Nadeem.

"As bank employees they were meant to look after the interests of the bank and its customers; their actions completely betrayed that trust and caused distress to a number of customers."

Police said the victims were 'generally elderly and, or based overseas'.

The constable added: "Ahmed and Nadeem had full access to customers' bank accounts and there was nothing that the victims could have done to prevent their accounts being defrauded.

"The most despicable act concerned Ahmed who raided the bank account of a man whom he knew was deceased, thereby holding up probate for his grieving relatives.

"During the early part of August 2017, Ahmed obtained the work login details for a former colleague which he intended to use to commit further frauds. Thankfully, this colleague alerted the bank which prevented any further loss to customers.

"Despite being caught out by their employers and despite having been arrested on the 8 August 2017, Ahmed committed further offences by allowing bank accounts he held in his name to be used to funnel several thousand pounds worth of stolen funds. It was clear the accounts owned by Nadeem had been opened for the same purpose."

Thames Valley Police said both Ahmed and Nadeem both claimed they were under duress while committing these offences, but this was rejected by the jury who found them unanimously guilty.

The defendants had 'ample opportunity' to tell the police if they were being threatened, yet they did not raise this as a defence until January this year.

Mr Gibson added: "I would like to thank the staff at Barclays Special Investigations team whose hard work and co-operation was instrumental in securing the convictions for fraud."