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Jonathan Richard Kirkpatrick in Auckland District Court - Source: Fairfax -
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A former AUT staff member, who admitted to taking more than half a million dollars from the university, has been jailed.
Jonathan Kirkpatrick, who was head of the business innovation centre, was sentenced to three years and two months' imprisonment for $666,000 worth of fraud between 2002 and May this year.
Kirkpatrick made false invoices in the names of Halsey Consulting, Business Custom Solutions and Eventure.
He pleaded guilty to seven fraud related charges including false accounting and using a document to obtain a pecuniary advantage when he appeared in the Auckland District Court in August.
The Crown cited the breach of trust by someone in a high position as one of the key aggravating features, along with the substantial losses the university suffered.
The 53-year-old received a discount for his early guilty plea and a number of other mitigating factors, including his early admission of guilt and assistance with the inquiry.
Kirkpatrick resigned as Chief Executive of AUT's Business Innovation Centre in July this year.
The former lover of ex-MP Tim Barnett took full responsibility for his actions.
"I'm intrigued as much as I'm scared of the whole thing," he said outside a court hearing on August 4.
A supporter, who had picked Kirkpatrick up, said he often told her, "sometimes I don't know who I am anymore".
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