Wednesday 7 March 2012

When ‘Making A Fresh Start’ Isn’t Actually Making A Fresh Start…

A dishonest employee who stole property worth more than £1,400 while working for a Sleaford delivery firm has been handed a suspended jail sentence.

FedEx worker John Hirst (Ed: No, not this one) was found guilty of seven theft charges after a trial at Lincoln Crown Court.

The stolen items valued at £1,433 included paint rollers, power drills, radios, a laminator and a laptop computer.

Hirst,43, denied the charges but the court heard he involved another colleague by failing to scan parcels inside his van, and then moving the stolen items to his car.
You might wonder how he got the job, too:
Hirst had previous convictions for theft and burglary and had moved to Sleaford from West Yorkshire.
Here comes the ‘mitigation’. Get your tissues ready…
Rachel Ward, mitigating, told the court Hirst had suffered domestic violence at the hands of both his father and two elder brothers.

She said: "He moved to the Lincolnshire area to make a fresh start….
Errrr, not really. He was thieving in West Yorkshire and he continued thieving in Sleaford.

That’s not, in any way, a ‘fresh start’.
… His evidence was that he enjoyed his work at FedEx. He has of course lost his job, as well as his relationship and where he was living in Sleaford. He has not worked since."
Well, yes, I expect he did ‘enjoy his job’, since it meant he didn’t have to go out and burgle for luxury goods any more, they were given to him!
He was sentenced to six months imprisonment suspended for a year, ordered to carry out 200 hours unpaid work in the community and told to pay FedEx £750 compensation.
In other words, half of what he stole…

Nice ‘work’ if you can get it!

4 comments:

Paul said...

'Rachel Ward, mitigating ..'

Blimey, she's come down in the world hasn't she? The last I heard of her, she was some big film actress plying her trade in Aus. Married Bryan Torso (aka Brown).

Bill Quango MP said...

Crime does pay.And if he'd only taken a parcel a month he'd never have been caught.

Frankie said...

This situation is one that would be best answered by importing one or more of the remedies on offer in less 'enlightened' countries...

Chop the blighter's hands off, then he would not be able to steal. Who says that crime doesn't pay? Bah!

JuliaM said...

"Blimey, she's come down in the world hasn't she? The last I heard of her, she was some big film actress plying her trade in Aus. Married Bryan Torso (aka Brown)."

And come to think of that, whatever happened to him..?

"And if he'd only taken a parcel a month he'd never have been caught."

Indeed! It's always greed that gets them caught.

"This situation is one that would be best answered by importing one or more of the remedies on offer in less 'enlightened' countries..."

I'm beginning to think it'd solve quite a lot of our current issues.