A Tasmanian accountant who embezzled more than $2.3 million from a long-time Hobart client to splurge on a cocaine-fuelled Melbourne lifestyle has been jailed for eight years. Patrick Simon Mitchell, 42, formerly of Southbank in the Victorian capital, had pleaded guilty to 25 counts of stealing by misappropriation. In sentencing Mitchell to serve at least five years in prison, Justice Michael Brett said the crimes were made even more heinous by the high level of trust the victim had in the defendant. Justice Brett said the victim’s significant portfolio of assets included both an inheritance from her mother, as well as her own savings from her 40-year career as a nurse.
