A council employee who made nearly £250,000 by holding down four different jobs at multiple local authorities has been jailed for three years.
Bryn Howells, 66, from Stroud, Gloucestershire, worked for two district councils and another company which provided services to three more before he was caught.
The fraudster failed to declare his existing jobs and submitted false timesheets, allowing him to gain a salary and benefits totalling a whopping £236,000 between February 2022 and June 2023.
Howells worked simultaneously for Tewkesbury borough council, South Gloucestershire council and Publica Group.
He denied any wrongdoing, saying he was instead motivated by a desire to support local councils where skilled staff were in short supply.
Howells also claimed that none of the local authorities suffered financially as a result of his actions and that he had always completed his work.
However, jailing him at Gloucester Crown Court on Thursday, Judge Malcom Gibney said the 66-year-old had ‘made hay while the sun shined’.
He said Howells worked multiple jobs in the knowledge that the councils would not be checking up on him.
Bryn Howells (pictured), 66, from Stroud, Gloucestershire, worked for two district councils and another company which provided services to three more before he was caught
Howells was jailed for three years at Gloucester Crown Court (pictured) on Thursday
Howells worked simultaneously for Tewkesbury borough council (pictured), South Gloucestershire council and Publica Group between February 2022 and June 2023
Gloucester Crown Court previously heard that Howells was employed as a strategic housing and enabling officer at Tewkesbury council, a senior development surveyor at South Gloucestershire council and a valuer and estates surveyor at Publica Group.
He was convicted in July of six counts of fraud by false representation and three counts of fraud by failing to disclose information.
Howells’s wrongdoing was uncovered in a review of payroll data by Tewkesbury council’s fraud unit.
At the time he had just resigned from South Gloucestershire council but was still employed by Tewkesbury council and the Publica Group.
Sentencing Howells to three years in prison, Judge Gibney said according to the BBC: ‘It’s clear that when you did work, the work was good.
‘You are an experienced man in your profession. You are a man with a passion for your job.
‘You took the view this was an opportunity to make hay while the sun shined and you could earn significant sums of money doing work for local authorities confident in the knowledge they weren’t as diligent in establishing you were doing all that was set you.’
