From iPhones to £4k worth of jewellery - Six of the biggest thefts by employees
As the Express & Star today revealed that a former soldier from Staffordshire stole almost £1,500 worth of goods just a week into a job working for Amazon, we took a look at some of the biggest thefts employees have committed across the region.
While 26-year-old Neil Tuft was fined and ordered to undertake community service after admitting stealing £1,362.50 worth of goods, including a Tom Tom smart watch, other offenders who's hauls were much larger received jail sentences.
Debt-ridden Hussain used his authority to list over 70 iPhones and iPad tablets as transferred within the company, but rather than sending them to other stores, he put them up for sale on the internet.
He was even caught on security cameras leaving the shop with a 'swag' bag, the prosecution said.
Single mother Lisa Philips diddled more than 40 workers at Spring Recruitment to pay her mortgage arrears. By using the firm's computer records, she diverted the money from their accounts to her own bank account - and then changed the records back to cover her tracks.
Many of the victims were in low paid jobs, some with only limited English and no knowledge of the UK's pay and legal systems. As a result Philips was jailed for six months.
Wolverhampton Crown Court heard how Daniel Weaver's persistent thefts had a 'significant impact' on business at ATE Group and if his activities had been discovered any later, bosses would have had to consider making other members of staff redundant.
Weaver had used his role as a purchase ledger clerk for the firm on Wolverhampton's Boundary Industrial Estate, to direct fake invoices worth £163,676.85 into his bank account between November 2012 and June 2015, and last summer he was locked up for more than two years.
The 69-year-old woman gave Richard Mills breakfast and lots of cups of tea while he worked at the house. In turn he repaid her kindness by stealing a 50-year-old engagement ring and 20-year-old eternity ring, both of which were 'priceless' to her because of their immense sentimental value.
In the crime which saw Mills jailed for more than two years he also took a watch and two silver chains, before selling the jewellery to buy drugs.
Patrick Joseph Colgan was ordered to undertake 150 hours worth of community service and was fined following the theft of the wallet which contained cash, banks cards, a driving licence, and the student's lucky coin.
