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!