Jeffrey Bevan lived and worked in the Caribbean country and, from January 2011, was in charge of expenditure as payments accountant manager.

Following Bevan’s resignation in February 2013 and departure from the country in May 2013, staff found some cheques that should have been credited to legitimate businesses had been redirected into Bevan’s bank account.

During his trial at Cardiff Crown Court, Bevan pleaded guilty to three counts of transferring criminal property and ten counts of converting criminal property.

The court was told that Bevan, who had previously worked for the Welsh Government, British Steel and the BBC was classed as a ‘super-user’ in the office of the accountant general in Bermuda. He used his position to ‘abuse’ a process whereby two invoices were created for one transaction - one was paid and one was left ‘hanging in the air’, the prosecution alleged.

The court heard that, following a full audit of payments authorised by Bevan, a total of 2,452,135 Bermudan dollars (BMD) - equivalent to £1,768,182 today - had been stolen in 52 separate transactions and deposited into Bevan’s bank accounts.

Of that, BMD441,995 (£318,713) was spent on his family’s luxurious lifestyle in Bermuda.

A total of £1,325,477 was laundered through Bevan’s bank accounts in the UK. Bevan claimed all of the cash was legitimate payment for overtime but the evidence showed that he was paid overtime in the normal way, through his wages.

Juliette Simms, specialist prosecutor in the specialist fraud division of the CPS, said: ‘Jeffrey Bevan first claimed to have worked an exceptionally high number of overtime hours to account for the millions of Bermudan dollars he had transferred into his bank accounts.

‘He spent the money on houses in Wales, Scotland and Nottingham, new cars, gambling and a lavish lifestyle for himself and his family.

‘Evidence presented by the CPS showed that buying multiple houses in the UK was a way for Bevan to launder the money he had taken from the Bermudan government.’

Report by Pat Sweet