Finance director stole £6m to live the high life

A “greedy” finance director who stole £6 million from his employer and frittered away a fortune on Savile Row suits and luxury holidays has been jailed for more than five years.

Over 16 years, Michael Collins, 66, siphoned off the money while working as executive finance director of Londonbased insurer The Mediterranean Insurance and Reinsurance Company Limited (MedRe).

Analysis of company accounts revealed an unsupported debt of £6m linked to a number of cheques deposited into Collins’ personal bank accounts.

To cover his tracks, Collins filled in false entries in a ledger and used the phrase “other debtors” to describe the cheque deposits.

As a result of his actions, MedRe was unable to pay more than £10m to its creditors and was put into administration in December 2015.

On his arrested at Heathrow Airport in March last year, Collins admitted what he had done and put it down to “greed”.

He told officers that he spent the money on holidays and paying off his credit cards, which he used to fund an extravagant lifestyle.

He racked up a £23,015 bill at the Four Seasons Hotel in the Maldives and spent almost £50,000 at a tailor’s on Savile Row.

Collins, from Bromley, south London, pleaded guilty to fraud and false accounting and was jailed at the Old Bailey for five years and four months. He was also disqualified from becoming a company director for 10 years.