Worker in £40k theft from Carphone Warehouse sentenced

Palo Bains admitted stealing 131 mobile phones and 1,500 memory cards from the Wednesbury branch of Carphone Warehouse. Mr Stuart Clarkson, prosecuting, told Wolverhampton Crown Court yesterday that the 49-year-old's manager Thomas Nash received a phone call on August 20 last year suggesting that Bains be investigated.

"He received an anonymous call to suggest the property of Palo Bains be searched," said Mr Clarkson. "Her locker at the premises was searched, and subsequently her car.

"Items were found that she shouldn't have had."

The staff recovered 131 Samsung Galaxy S3 mobile phones and 1,559 mobile phone memory cards. In all they were worth £41,644.85.

The court heard they had all be stolen on the same day, and Bains was interviewed by the staff at the Bilston Road store before the police were called.

Mr Clarkson said: "She said she had been put up to it by another party and she was going to get nothing out of doing what she had done."

Mr Rizwan Pasha, defending, told the court she had worked at the store for nine years, and it was one of two jobs she had to support her family.

Bains, of Shayler Grove, Parkfields, Wolverhampton had previously pleaded guilty to the charge of theft.

Recorder Kevin Hegarty told her: "Stealing from your employer was a breach of trust." Bains was sentenced to 12 months in prison, suspended for a year, and will be supervised by the probation service.