Ex-IT chief Benjamin Cullen faces more jail if he can’t cough up £163k
Fraudster ordered to pay back thousands or return to prison
Benjamin Cullen, the disgraced IT director from Herne Bay, has been given a strict three-month deadline to pay back £163,934 – or risk an extra 20 months behind bars.
Massive theft exposed after internal probe
Back in July 2022, Cullen was slammed with a hefty four years and nine months sentence after admitting fraud by abusing his position. The 45-year-old swiped more than £240,000 by using company funds to buy home electricals, clothes, and jewellery.
The theft spree went unnoticed until an internal investigation uncovered multiple fake invoices and misuse of a company credit card between 2018 and 2020.
Police claw back criminal loot under Proceeds of Crime Act
Following his jail term, kent.police.uk" target="_blank" rel="noopener" title="Kent Police" data-wpil-keyword-link="linked">Kent Police pushed for a confiscation order via canterbury/" title="Canterbury" data-wpil-keyword-link="linked">Canterbury Crown Court to seize Cullen’s ill-gotten gains. They found he benefited to the tune of £243,300 but only had assets worth £163,934—including property equity—available to be recovered.
Fraud squad warns: crime doesn’t pay
“Cullen’s actions amounted to the gross abuse of a trusted position and caused serious long-term harm to his company,” said Detective Inspector Dave Godfrey of the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate. “This confiscation order shows that fraudsters will be brought to justice and stripped of their criminal gains to compensate victims.”
Cullen now faces a grim choice: pay up or pay more time behind bars.
