A Department for Education manager who defrauded the Government of more than £1m to buy a luxury flat has been jailed after he was turned in by his mother.
Edward Chapman, 37, pocketed the cash initially in order to buy himself a flat in Rochester, Kent, before upgrading to a £850,000 home in Wandsworth, London.
He set up fake swimming-related "shell companies" to help himself to left-over funds from the department. Rather than living a life of "extravagant holidays" his other purchases were limited to smaller items including a "nice desk".
His girlfriend noticed unusual payments to his bank account and alerted his mother, a deputy director at the Department for Education.
Chapman was jailed for three years and four months at Southwark Crown Court after admitting his crimes once his mother turned him in.
Judge Andrew Goymer told him: "There can be few tasks more disagreeable for any judge than to have to sentence a man of your character for an offence such as this.
"What you committed was not just fraud it was a very gross breach of the trust that had been imposed in you by the department.
"Not only did you commit fraud on a major scale in breach of trust, indeed you helped yourself to over a million pounds of money to which you were not entitled.
"It is really quite hard to understand why a man in your position with your advantages would have done this."
Chapman set up shell companies JP Swimsafe Ltd and My Swim Ltd as a front for him to pay government funds into his own accounts.
He began working at the Department for Education in 2003 and while committing the fraud worked as a higher executive officer.
Investigators found that the only trading ever done by these companies was the invoices used for Chapman's fraud.
Gregor McKinley, prosecuting, said a total of £1,103,000 was pocketed by Chapman in a series of payments between July 2006 and December 2008.
Mr McKinley said: "Mr Chapman's girlfriend had cause to look at his personal bank details and noticed that there were payments that she would not have expected to be there.
"Both she and Mr Chapman's family spoke to him and he made a very straight-forward admission, both to the department and to the police."
The money has since been recouped by the department in the civil courts.
David McNeill, for Chapman, conceded that it was a "huge breach of trust" which involved "significant planning".
Chapman made his first payment of £40,000 in July 2006 and used it as the deposit for a one bedroom flat in Rochester a month later.
Mr McNeill told the court that a further payment of around £80,000 in April 2007 ended up being lost to a bank.
He explained: "His bank account set up for JP Swimsafe Ltd with Lloyds was shut down.
"Lloyds identified this as suspicious activity and shut down the account - Lloyds must have taken that £64,000 at that stage."
A payment of £950,000 was made to a new account of Chapman's in September 2008 which he used to buy the flat at Alexander Studios, Haydon Way, Wandsworth for £850,000.
According to Zoopla apartments there now go for more than £1.5m.
Mr McNeill added that the rest of the money went on solicitors fees, decorating and small items such as a "nice desk", a watch and a bicycle.
Chapman, of Dover Road, Walmer, near Margate, was jailed for three years and four months for one count of fraud by abuse of position and one of obtaining a money transfer by deception.
Detective Sergeant Richard Ward from the Met's Fraud Squad said: "This was a gross breach of trust. Chapman was in a very responsible position and he breached that trust totally.
"If it hadn't been for his mother coming forward and alerting the authorities to the fraud it may never have been discovered."
