Manager who stole £5,000 from Shrewsbury phone shop breaches court order again
A Shrewsbury man who stole £5,000 from the phone shop he managed after getting into financial difficulties has breached the conditions of his court sentence for a fourth time.
Jak Wright was handed a one-year prison sentence, suspended for two years, in November 2016, after admitting theft from Shrewsbury’s Carphone Warehouse, where he was the manager.
Wright, 26, of Allerton Road, had previously been fined for breaching the order, which included 150 hours of unpaid work, and on another occasion he had extra hours added to his sentence for another breach.
He appeared in Shrewsbury Crown Court on Monday, after breaching the conditions of his sentence for a fourth time.
The suspended sentence was put in place after Wright admitted stealing £5,356 while branch manager at the phone branch. Wright had falsified returns made by customers before pocketing the cash, which would have been refunded, and had create false trade-in deals while working at the Meole Brace Retail Park branch between February and June 2016.
At a hearing in September, Wright was told by a judge that if he failed to complete the work again, he would go to prison.
On Monday, Danny Smith, defending, said that his client had still failed to complete any of his unpaid work, and had been in hospital with a lung infection.
Mr Smith said his client had attempted to contact the probation service, and had drafted an email but did not realise it had not sent. He asked for the matter to be adjourned for two weeks, to allow Wright to complete the work. He added that if Wright was to be jailed it would have a devastating effect on his family, as his mother was facing eviction from her home.
Prosecutor Kevin Jones, said it was Wright’s fourth breach proceeding, and he had been given notice on the last occasion it was to be his last opportunity. However, he said there was some sympathy with the hospital admission.
Mr Jones added an adjournment for two weeks would be possible, and there would be unpaid work available to Wright.
Judge Peter Barrie adjourned the matter until October 30 for Wright to complete his unpaid work, but he warned the him the suspended sentence remains a “real and live issue”.
He said: “You have an opportunity to complete the unpaid work hours, and if you take the opportunity that is up to you.
“You must not assume that this opportunity means the problems are over.
“You have a long history of failure to keep promises to the court.
“The suspended sentence will remain a real and live issue on October 30.
“This is an opportunity to show you can do some unpaid work.”
