A man who swindled his company out of £10,000 by stealing computers he ordered for customers has escaped jail.
Steven Watkins, 33, of Valkyrie Road, Westcliff, who has had to remortgage his home, has been ordered to do 100 hours community punishment and must repay £7,500 to ABB Technologies of Acton, west London.
At an earlier hearing at Isleworth Crown Court, in west London, Watkins admitted five charges of theft of computers at the end of 2000.
Other charges of false accounting were left on file.
Defence counsel Annie Dixon said that despite it being a serious breach of trust, it did not warrant a custodial sentence and Watkins was prepared to re-mortgage his home to repay the money.
He had never been in trouble before, she added. The judge, Recorder Nicholas Stadlen QC, said that normally "offences such as these would attract an immediate custodial sentence because they were committed by you when you were in a position of trust.
"However, you have pleaded guilty and I have regard to matters said on your behalf. In the circumstances, very unusually, the court will not impose a custodial sentence."
Published Tuesday, April 8, 2003
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