Workers jailed after stealing £59k of steel from family firm
Two long-term workers, who stole £59,000 worth of steel from their employer in less than two months, were each starting 12-month prison sentences today.
Kevin Jordan and Darren Baker even used the firm’s vehicles to take the haul to a nearby scrap yard where it was sold for a fraction of its worth, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.
The pair were caught red-handed after their boss at Corbett Support Systems, based at the Hawthorn Industrial Estate on Halfords Lane, Smethwick, was warned in August last year that members of their staff were stealing from them, explained Ms Raj Punia, prosecuting.
The management checked CCTV cameras and found film footage of 39-year-old Jordan and Baker, aged 41, loading company vans with steel coils in the early morning three times between July 14 and August 17 last year.
The pair drove the loads to a scrap yard and were recorded returning to their base up to an hour later.
They were helped on the second theft, which took place on August 4, by another employee, 53-year-old Nigel Poutney, who received £400 for his assistance, the court heard.
The firm launched an investigation which pin-pointed the scrap yard where the stolen metal had been sold and discovered the £7,434 paid for the three loads went into the bank account of Jordan, who had worked for the company for 12 years.
He and Poutney were sacked while father-of-four Baker resigned after disciplinary hearings.
Corbett Support Services said in a statement: “We are a family-run business who put trust in our employees and support them throughout their employment.
"We had known the offenders for a long time and thought they were committed to the company. We feel very let down.”
All three men were of previous good character and each expressed remorse and shame over their behaviour.
Jordan from Lemox Road, West Bromwich, and Baker of Crankhall Lane, Wednesbury, admitted conspiracy to steal and each was sent to prison for a year.
Judge Michael Challinor said: “This sentence is overwhelmingly aimed as a deterrent so people know that if they breach the trust put in them by their employer they will go to prison. It gives me no pleasure at all.”
Poutney, of Manford House, West Bromwich, admitted receiving money from crime and was given a 12-month community order with 200 hours of unpaid work and £500 costs.
Judge Challinor told him: “I am deeply suspicious that your role was rather more serious than the indictment suggests.”
