Getty ImagesA military clerk who stole almost £1m from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) by submitting fraudulent expenses claims has been jailed.
Former corporal Aaron Stelmach-Purdie was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on Tuesday to three years and four months for fraud and money laundering.
The 34-year-old from Oldham, Greater Manchester, ran the scam for just over a year between November 2014 and January 2016 while he was working as a clerk at the MoD’s administrative headquarters in central London.
He manipulated the MoD’s online platform for managing staff expenses and allowance claims, defrauding the government of £911,677. Of this, £557,093 he kept for himself, the court heard.
Stelmach-Purdie, who joined the army at the age of 16 and served in Northern Ireland and Afghanistan, travelled to Turkey to purchase hair transplants, teeth-whitening and abdominal implants with the money he stole, the court previously heard.
Police officers searched his home and found a Louis Vuitton luggage set and nine pairs of Christian Louboutin shoes.
Five other military clerks who were employed at the Regent’s Park Barracks – former sergeant Roger Clerice, 28, Allan O’Neil, 48, Lee Richards, 41, Anthony Sharwood, 38, and Peter Wilson, 55 – were sentenced alongside Stelmach-Purdie after they were convicted on charges of money laundering and conspiracy to commit fraud.
His Honour Judge Philip Bartle KC said Stelmach-Purdie played a “leading role in the fraud” having previously been a “successful and accomplished soldier”.
Lied to family
Delivering his sentencing remarks, the judge added: “Stelmach-Purdie was central to the commission of these frauds which would not have happened without his involvement. Without him, none of the other defendants would have become involved in the offences.
“He was responsible for the management and control of claims to expenses and allowances subject to the supervision of his superiors.”
Stelmach-Purdie used the bank accounts of others to hide the money and lied to his mother, sister and a friend as to where the funds had come from, the court heard.
After an investigation was launched, Stelmach-Purdie said in interview that he became “aware that people were making claims for allowances that they were not entitled to” after taking an administration job following “traumatising tours in Afghanistan”.
Stelmach-Purdie was dishonourably discharged from the armed forces in January 2016 after he was convicted of four counts of sexual activity with a child.
He pleaded guilty to seven counts of conspiracy to commit fraud and one count of money laundering in August 2023.
There will be a confiscation order hearing at Southwark Crown Court on 12 September.
