A ’greedy’ finance director who stole £6 million from his employer over 16 years to pay for holidays and designer clothes has been jailed.

Michael Collins, of West Hill, Downe was sentenced to a total of five years and four months’ imprisonment at the Old Bailey today after he pleaded guilty to fraud by abuse of position of trust and false accounting

He was also disqualified from becoming a company director for 10 years.

Collins, 66, was the executive finance director of a company called The Mediterranean Insurance and Reinsurance Company Limited (MedRe), a UK-recognised insurer based in central London. Analysis of the company’s accounts revealed an unsupported debt of £6 million that could be attributed to a number of cheques deposited into Collins’ personal bank accounts.

To cover his tracks, Collins had filled in false entries in a ledger and used the phrase ‘other debtors’ to describe the cheque deposits to his own bank accounts.

In December 2015, as a result of Collins’ actions, MedRe was put in administration and the company was unable to pay more than £10 million worth of debts to its creditors.

Collins was arrested at Heathrow Airport on March 12 last year and, in his police interview, fully admitted the offence.

He said his motive was “greed” and he used the money on holidays and paying off American Express credit cards.

Analysis of the credit card statements revealed an extravagant lifestyle, including a £23,015 bill at the Four Seasons Hotel in the Maldives and a bill of almost £50,000 at a tailor’s on Saville Row.

Collins said he carried out the fraud by asking a co-signatory to sign a blank cheque. He would then add his own signature and pay the money into his own account. He said he would then add false details, or instruct his clerk to, in the company ledger.

He said the fraud, which he said started in 1999, had led to him stealing in the region of £6 million.

Detective Sergeant Richard Ward, from the Met’s Fraud Squad, said: “Collins abused his position of trust over a 16-year period to steal £6 million from his employer. The motive for this crime was greed and he used the money to fund a lavish lifestyle involving expensive foreign holidays and designer goods.

“Fraud is not a victimless crime. Collins’ actions have resulted in a considerable financial loss to the company’s 200 creditors who have been left with losses of more than £10 million. The sentence handed out today reflects the scale of his criminal activity.”