IT man stole £500,000 from Ofcom

A senior member of IT staff at telecoms regulator Ofcom was jailed today for stealing more than £520,000.

Jurgen Whitehouse, 37, from Welling, Kent, used his insider knowledge to siphon off the money, the Metropolitan Police said.

Detective Constable Elliott Toms said: "This was a premeditated and calculated fraud on a public body which was conducted over a prolonged period.

"He exploited his expert knowledge of systems in place at Ofcom in order to steal in excess of half a million pounds.

"Today's sentence will hopefully serve as a deterrent to others who are similarly tempted to abuse their positions of responsibility."

Whitehouse was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court after admitting fraud between July 2008 and April 2009.

He stole £522,123 but has since given much of the money back, police said.