AN Alresford parish councillor has been jailed for 32 months for a £1.2 million fraud against his employers.

Christopher Norkett, 44, a telecoms manager, created bogus order for mobile phones that were never delivered, Reading Crown Court heard.

Norkett, of Raebarn Close, Cheriton, a parish councillor in Tichborne and later Cheriton, was arrested in December 2009 by Hampshire police after his employer, Cable and Wireless in Bracknell, were alerted to irregularities in Vodafone’s bills.

The court heard the firm discovered he had placed several suspicious orders for phones.

During a search at his home a pump action shotgun was seized. Norkett, a country sports enthusiast, did not have a firearms licence for the gun.

A confiscation order hearing will take place at Reading Crown Court on May 18.

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