Soldier who defrauded MoD of almost £1m jailed

He travelled to Turkey for a hair transplant with the money.

Transcript

00:00A 34-year-old man from Oldham, Greater Manchester ran a million pound scam for just over a year

00:07between 2014 and 2016 while he was working at the Ministry of Defence's administrative

00:14headquarters in central London. Stelmac Purdy manipulated the Ministry of Defence's online

00:21platform for managing staff expenses and allowance claims, defrauding the government

00:27of £911,000 of which he kept over £500,000 himself. Stelmac Purdy, who joined the army

00:35at the age of 16 and served in Northern Ireland and Afghanistan, travelled to Turkey to purchase

00:42hair transplants, teeth whitening and abdominal implants with the money that he stole from the

00:48government. When police officers searched his home, they found a Louis Vuitton luggage set

00:54and nine pairs of Christian Louis Vuitton shoes. Now, five other military clerks who were employed at the

01:02Regent's Park barracks were also sentenced alongside Stelmac Purdy after they were convicted on charges

01:09of money laundering and conspiracy to commit fraud. After an investigation was launched, Stelmac Purdy

01:17said in an interview that he became aware that people were making claims for allowances they were not

01:24entitled to after taking an administration job following a traumatising tour in Afghanistan.

01:33Stelmac Purdy was dishonourably discharged from the armed forces though in 2016 after he was convicted

01:40of four counts of sexual activity with a child.