The boss of a plant hire firm has been told he will not be jailed after he was convicted of stealing from his own company.
Stuart Fosker, 29, also falsified documents to make it look as if equipment from his Colchester firm had been transferred to other depots.
Fosker blamed his bad record-keeping for the thefts from Speedy Hire on the town's Whitehall industrial estate.
A jury at Chelmsford Crown Court heard how property, including saws, drills and ladders, went missing from the depot between January and March 2003 while Fosker was manager.
He denied stealing anything and said it was his "sloppiness" when it came to paperwork which was responsible.
Fosker, of Lethe Grove, Colchester, denied theft and false accounting. He was cleared on three false accounting and three theft charges and convicted on two false accounting and two theft charges.
The jury in the trial were discharged from returning verdicts on the other ten charges after the court heard there was no reasonable prospect of the the jury reaching verdicts.
These charges, five of false accounting and five of theft, were left of the file after the prosecution said it would not be seeking a retrial.
Sentence was adjourned for reports until next month and Fosker was bailed.
Published Monday, February 14, 2005
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