An army staff sergeant who defrauded his regiment out of more than £330,000 to buy luxury cars and get a hair transplant has been jailed for three-and-a-half years. Andrew Oakes, 39, used his prestigious position as financial systems administrator at the Catterick Garrison army base in North Yorkshire to fraudulently transfer Ministry of Defence money to his personal accounts, Teesside Crown Court heard.

The disgraced officer, who spent his ill-gotten gains on three Teslas, a BMW Mini, a Nissan Qashqai, claimed he had won the money in ‘the army lottery’ when trying to prove he had enough money to secure a mortgage. Oakes pleaded guilty to three counts of fraud by false representation, fraud by abuse of a position of trust and acquiring criminal property.

The audacious scam lasted ove

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