Gordon Currie
Gary Ridgewell, a former manager at Halfords, has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison for embezzling £90,000 from the company. Over a five-year period, Ridgewell used a coupon refund scam to siphon funds to support his gambling addiction.
At Perth Sheriff Court, it was revealed that Ridgewell’s gambling issues began at age 13, leading to a lifelong struggle to finance his habit. Sheriff Alison McKay emphasized the breach of trust, stating, “You embezzled the sum of £90,000 from your employers over a period of five years. Restitution is a consideration, but even with complete repayment, custody would still be necessary.”
Originally charged with embezzling £178,000, Ridgewell had yet to repay any of the stolen funds. He manipulated customer coupons while managing branches in Dumbarton and Perth, pocketing cash from the tills and falsifying records. His activities came to light during a nationwide investigation by Halfords into suspicious financial activities.
The court learned that Ridgewell had been the manager at the Dumbarton branch since September 2010 and moved to the Perth store in April 2016. He was suspended on March 7, 2018, amid the allegations.
During his time at Dumbarton, Ridgewell exploited a procedural loophole in the coupon registration system. Fiscal depute Callum Gordon explained that he inflated coupon values, allowing him to remove cash from the till without formal withdrawal, while keeping recorded balances consistent.
His fraudulent activities went undetected until Halfords conducted an internal investigation into unrelated missing funds. This probe revealed that the Perth store had the highest cash balance due to the large number of fraudulent coupons Ridgewell had processed.
CCTV footage from the Perth store captured Ridgewell taking cash from the till and pocketing it before logging a transaction. He later confessed to company officials during questioning.
