Jailed: Shropshire dairy farm worker who stole £45,000 from employer after having wages cut
A dairy farm worker whose pay was cut boosted his wages by stealing £45,000 from his employer, a court heard.
Over a four month period Costel Teodorescu forged a series of cheques and put more than half the cash into his own bank account.
A number of cheques - totalling almost £20,000 - had been distributed among the defendants' friends and acquaintances.
At Shrewsbury Crown Court Teodorescu was jailed for a total of 18 months for offences of burglary and fraud.
Judge Peter Barrie told Teodorescu that he had been involved in a "carefully arranged episode of dishonesty" which had caused enormous loss to the farm where he worked.
He said that custody was inevitable for such 'sustained and repeated offences' in which there was an element of a breach of trust.
Teodorescu, a Romanian, recently living and working at a farm near Whitchurch, had admitted stealing a cheque book, and fraud by making false representations that he was entitled to sign the cheques, between February and June this year.
At the time of the offences Teodorescu lived in High Street, Shrewsbury, and was employed as a farm hand at Sutton Hill Farm near Shifnal, run by J & MA Palmer Farms.
The court heard Teodorescu left his job at the farm earlier this year of his own accord and it was only later the owner was contacted by his bank and told of "irregular activity" on his account.
Mr Graham Russell, prosecuting, said a number of cheques linked to the farm had been cashed into Teodorescu's bank account.
In total 31 cheques had been used featuring amounts ranging between £655 to £3,200 and in total £45,260 was taken and dates on some of the cheques coincided with when the defendant was still employed at the farm and others after he had left.
Mr Russell said that the farm owner had been forced to borrow money to cover the short-fall following the thefts.
The court heard Teodorescu told police his wages dropped from £500 down to £300 a week and he felt underpaid and had gone into the farm house to steal cash, but in stead took a cheque book he found in a drawer.
Miss Sarah Cooper, for Teodorescu, said her client had been in the UK for eight years and had always worked and had no previous convictions.
She said he had been orphaned as a child and had a bleak up-bringing and had difficulty forming relationships and had used the money to 'buy friendship' and to supplement his diminishing wages.
