Ex-G4S guard jailed in UK over £117,200 bank fraud after four-year stay in Ghana
A former security guard has been sentenced to three years and four months in prison in the United Kingdom after posing as a cash collection officer to steal £117,200 from a bank before fleeing to Ghana, where he remained for nearly four years.
Kwabena Kissi, 40, received the sentence at Snaresbrook Crown Court after pleading guilty to one count of fraud by false representation over the carefully planned theft carried out in July 2022.
The court heard that on July 5, 2022, Kissi entered a Santander UK branch in Brixton, south London, wearing a G4S security uniform from a company he had left two years earlier. He concealed his identity with a crash helmet, its visor lowered, and a face mask, convincing bank staff that he was an authorised cash collection officer.
CCTV footage presented in court showed employees granting him access to a secure section of the bank before handing over bags containing cash intended for collection.
After collecting the money, Kissi calmly left the bank carrying a briefcase. Prosecutors said he later changed out of the security uniform nearby, transferred the cash into a bin bag and departed the area in an Uber.
Prosecutor Imogen Nelson told the court that the bank’s vault manager, Otis Williams, had prepared £256,000 in 11 cash bags for collection that day.
Although one employee questioned why Kissi had arrived earlier than expected, he reportedly claimed he had been assigned to a new route, easing any immediate suspicions.
The fraud was discovered only after Kissi failed to return for another scheduled collection and the genuine G4S cash collection officer later arrived to collect the funds.
The court heard that Kissi flew to Accra the day after the theft and remained in Ghana for almost four years, where he reportedly stayed with his sick mother.
His attempt to avoid prosecution ended on March 26 this year when he returned to the UK.
Investigators had been monitoring for his arrival, and he was identified after booking an Uber using his real name and mobile phone number—the same device linked to the 2022 investigation.
Police arrested him shortly after he landed at Gatwick Airport.
During police interviews, Kissi denied involvement and insisted officers had arrested the wrong person. However, investigators matched evidence from his mobile phone with material gathered during the original investigation, directly linking him to the crime.
In April, Kissi pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation. A separate charge of possessing criminal property was later dropped.
The case concluded with investigators highlighting the level of planning involved, including the misuse of a former employer’s uniform and the exploitation of established bank security procedures to gain the trust of staff before making off with a substantial amount of cash.
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