Military clerk faces jail after nearly £1m Ministry of Defence fraud

A military clerk who stole nearly £1m from the Ministry of Defence by making false expense claims faces prison for fraud and money laundering. 

Former corporal Aaron Stelmach-Purdie, 34, defrauded the government out of £911,677 – £557,093 of which he kept for himself – by manipulating the MoD’s online platform for the management of staff expense and allowance claims.

The scam took place from November 2014 to January 2016 and saw Stelmach-Purdie involved in 161 fraudulent claims, a judge sitting at Southwark Crown Court heard on Monday.

Stelmach-Purdie, from Oldham in Lancashire, was dismissed from the armed forces in January 2016 after he was convicted and sentenced over four counts of sexual activity with a child.

Five other military clerks who were also 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 – appeared in court alongside Stelmach-Purdie after they were convicted over charges of money laundering and conspiracy to commit fraud.

Prosecutor Domonic Connolly told the court: “This case concerns a series of frauds carried out by a number of employees of the Ministry of Defence at their administrative headquarters situated within Regents Park Barracks in Central London.

“These defendants, who were all employed at the Regent’s Park Barracks made a series of fictitious claims to expenses and allowances that they were not entitled to.

“As a result of these frauds, there has been a loss of public funds totalling £911,677.66.

“These are public funds that had been demarcated for the defence of the realm and the protection of its armed services.”

While he was responsible for the management of claims to expenses and allowances, Stelmach-Purdie used his position to make fraudulent claims on his JPA (Joint Personal Administration) account and on the accounts of others, the court was told.

The JPA is an online administrative system used by the UK armed forces to pay the salaries of staff, including claims for expenses and allowances.

The court heard Stelmach-Purdie would then used the bank accounts of third parties, including his mother and sister, to conceal the proceeds of the fraud.

Stelmach-Purdie’s line manager Clerice, who then worked as a sergeant in the department and was described as a “specialist in administration”, received £7,691 from the fraud, and later pleaded guilty to money laundering.

Wilson, a former lance sergeant who retired from the army in October 2015, continued to receive £230,400 in fraudulent claims made by Stelmach-Purdie for months until December 2015.

Between June and December 2015, Wilson’s JPA account was used to make 28 fraudulent claims totalling £378,662.

Wilson, from Kidderminster in Worcestershire, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud and money laundering in March 2023.

The total value of the fraud he pleaded guilty to is £385,432 involving 28 fraudulent claims made between June 2015 and January 2016.

A total of £378,662.26 passed through his bank account, £149,781 of which he retained, the court was told.

Sharwood, a former corporal in the Royal Marines who retired from the armed forces in January this year, was involved in eight fraudulent expenses claims made between January 2015 and November 2015, totalling £28,935.

The defendant, from Bromsgrove in Worcestershire, admitted to conspiracy to commit fraud and money laundering in March 2023.

Richards, a former lance sergeant from Amesbury in Wiltshire, was convicted by a jury of 103 fraudulent claims made between March 2015 and January 2016, totalling £434,825.

He retained approximately £160,000 of that sum, the court heard.

O’Neil, a former sergeant from Droitwich in Worcestershire, was involved in three fraudulent claims totalling £18,218, and has pleaded guilty to money laundering.

Stelmach-Purdie pleaded guilty to seven counts of conspiracy to commit fraud and one count of money laundering in August 2023.

All six defendants are due to be sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on Tuesday.