Contestant who won The Chase stole £53k from dead customers' accounts

Contestant who won The Chase stole £53,000 from dead customers’ bank accounts after scooping share of £14,000 on ITV show

• Daniel Hodgin, 47, transferred cash between number of deceased accounts
• He told police after he had been arrested that he had ‘done something stupid’
• Hodgin appeared on The Chase and won a share of a £14,000 prize in 2017

A contestant who appeared on ITV’s The Chase used his job at the Halifax bank to swindle £53,000 from dead customers’ estates.

Finance consultant Daniel Hodgin, 47, transferred cash between the accounts of a number of deceased account holders to siphon payments into his own.

Hodgin, of Leyland, Lancs, had been ‘living beyond his means’ since he appeared on The Chase and won a share of a £14,000 prize in 2017.

In 2021 Lloyds Banking Group, which owns Halifax, had been looking through a dead woman’s account when they noticed two fraudulent payments.

A total of £30,137 was missing so investigators began scutinising funds belonging to other deceased customers.

They found other dormant accounts had been reactivated and money moved around.

Preston Crown Court heard Hodgin had set up standing orders before cancelling them days later as well as using accounts to have fraudulent loans paid in – before transferring the money to himself, LancsLive reported.

Daniel Hodgin, 47, transferred cash between number of deceased customers’ bank accounts

Hodgin told police after he had been arrested that he had ‘done something stupid’, court heard

In one fraud, Hodgin converted a woman’s current account into a joint account and transferred £3,000 – eleven 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.

Prosecutor David Clarke said: ‘He was able to circumvent all the banking security protocols.

‘His health wasn’t good, his wife was unwell and he had carried out the frauds because of financial difficulties.

‘He had over borrowed on loans and credit cards’,

Hodgin was interviewed by the police on August 19, 2021, and admitted he had ‘done something stupid’.

Hodgin appeared on The Chase and won a share of a £14,000 prize in 2017 with his team

Hodgkin must return to court on December 9 where Proceeds of Crime proceedings will be discussed

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.

‘He acknowledges the bereaved families would have been distressed that he took from the estates that should have gone to their families.’

Hodgin was sentenced to 20 months suspended for 20 months and ordered him to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work.

Judge Medland KC said: ‘For reasons that aren’t satisfactorily explained, you began to lead a life which was significantly beyond your legitimate means, and racked up debts. You sought to satisfy this and get yourself out of trouble in a very sophisticated, cunning and prolonged way.

‘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. It will follow, from a description of your career to date that you have no previous convictions.

Hodgkin must return to court on December 9 where Proceeds of Crime proceedings will be discussed.

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