The Daily Mail reports today that the father of EastEnders actress Jacqueline Jossa – who of course plays troubled teen Lauren Branning – has been sentenced to a period of four years in prison for the theft of £500,000 of taxpayers’ money.

A distraught Jacqueline was in court yesterday to hear her father John plead guilty to three offences of dishonesty or tampering with expenses during the time he was head of finance at Enfield Council.

58 year old John reportedly stole a total of £491,088.35 between 2006 and 2010, £42,000 of which was in “false wages” to his wife, who didn’t in fact work at the council.

The paper adds, “However, he lost a significant amount of the money in scams and only £25,000 was recovered when Enfield Council launched a court action against him.”

The Old Bailey heard presiding Judge Nicholas Cooke telling John, “I have to sentence you for three offences of dishonesty by a fairly sophisticated fraud…

”How on earth a person with a shred of decency thinks he’s entitled to it when he steals half-a-million from his employers that shows criminally distorted thinking.

“You have taken £491,000 odd of funds of no doubt hard-pressed local authority.

“Knowing that you had done that, you accepted another £170,000 odd by way of payment on termination of your employment at that same local authority.

“The vast majority of all that money is now gone. All that court proceedings brought by the London Borough of Enfield has been able to recoup as about £25,000 described as a drop in the ocean.

“The prospect of further recovery on behalf of local residents is bleak. You continue to receive a local authority pension.

“How long that may continue and whether anything can be done about that is not a matter for me.

“In addition to being fully dishonest, [you are] a fool…

“Your offending will have real consequences to local residents in terms of reduced services or a decline in payments for those that live in the area.”