Daniel Hodgin, 47, previously appeared on ITV’s The Chase as a contestant (Picture: Facebook)
A man who won an episode of The Chase stole a whopping £53,000 from the bank accounts of dead people, a court has heard.
Daniel Hodgin appeared on ITV’s notoriously difficult quiz show in 2017, winning an impressive share of a £14,000 prize.
Also working as a finance consultant at a Halifax branch in Leyland, Lancashire, not even his loved ones considered he could be in crippling debt.
Preston Crown Court was told the 47-year-old had been ‘living beyond his means’ for a number of years, ‘racking up’ debts.
Three years after his moment of stardom on Bradley Walsh’s show, Lloyds Banking Group, which owns Halifax, noticed the large sums transferred from accounts.
Two fraudulent payments, totalling £30,137, had been made from the account of a woman who had died a year earlier, the LancsLive reported.
A subsequent investigation revealed that a number of dormant accounts had been reactivated, and used to move money around.
Hodgin won the TV quiz show as part of a team of three (Picture: ITV)
Prosecutor David Clarke told the court Hodgin was the ‘common link’.
‘His health wasn’t good, his wife was unwell and he had carried out the frauds because of financial difficulties,’ Mr Clarke said.
‘He had overborrowed on loans and credit cards.’
In one fraud, Hodgin converted a woman’s current account into a joint account and transferred £3,000 – 11 days before she died.
He later stole a further £16,000 and made a duplicate transfer for the cost of her funeral to his own account.
He began ‘racking up’ debts in 2008 (Picture: Facebook)
Anna Chestnutt, defending, said: ‘Through his work in the banking industry he was personally involved in helping people get out of debt.
‘Against that backdrop it must have been truly embarrassing to admit to his employers he was in such crushing debt.
‘He had been in debt since 2008 but kept it all hidden.’
Judge Simon Medland KC told Hodgin that the way in which he had tried to get out of trouble was ‘very sophisticated, cunning and prolonged’.
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He added: ‘You misused the knowledge you had of the systems in the bank where you were working, and robbing Peter to pay Paul – but you were the ultimate beneficiary of these funds.’
The judge sentenced Hodgin to 20 months suspended for 20 months and ordered him to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work.
He must return to court on December 9 where proceeds of crime proceedings will be discussed.
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He had been in debt since 2008 but kept it all hidden.