'Sly' cafe worker used safe as own 'piggy bank' to steal £540
A 'sly' employee has been jailed after using a cafe's safe as his own 'piggy bank' to steal £540. Paul Hunter, 38, worked for the BOD Cafe and Bar at Stoke train station.
But Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard he was fired after CCTV caught him stealing cash from the business’s safe six days after he was sentenced for a similar offence.
Hunter had been out drinking with a colleague after his shift had ended on October 8 last year. Ben Lawrence, prosecuting, told how the defendant asked his colleague to borrow his hoodie despite having his own, and said he was going to go to the cash machine.
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After around half an hour, Hunter, of Sheppard Street, Stoke, returned with lots of 20 pound notes on him. CCTV had caught the man using the code to enter BOD’s office, before helping himself to the contents of the safe.
Mr Lawrence said: “The defendant was identified by other members of staff and he admitted to the offence when asked by a senior member of staff. He suggested it was spontaneous to police during the interview, but there was a degree of planning because he swapped his hoodie - which was in his friend’s car - and was making his way to the place of work. He has high culpability due to the breach of trust.”
The court heard Hunter has five convictions for six offences.
Mr Wyatt, mitigating, said: “He accepts what he's done and he has held up his hands for his behaviour. He accepts he was given the chance on a previous occasion and he has let himself and his family down for the same thing.
“He tells me he's truly remorseful and this is a wake up call and motivation to sort out his life. His mum had cancer and he was caring for her, he was drinking heavily, and he was suffering with anxiety and depression, and he was struggling to pay bills.
“There have been significant changes in his life since the offence was committed. He has sought help from his GP and is medicated, he is no longer drinking, he has advice from debt management, and he is back in contact with his 10-year-old daughter who he sees each weekend. He is a man not past rehabilitation. This was largely down to his mental health battle, and he has buried his head in the sand."
Hunter pleaded guilty to theft. Jailing him for six months, Judge Michael Maher said: “You were working there with access to cash and to the safe, you knew the code known only by staff members. You were working there that Sunday but went for a drink with your colleague, but what was on your mind was to use the cafe bar as your own piggy bank.
“You made a sly attempt to conceal your identity - that is some degree of planning. You wanted to be disguised, and you were somewhat cumbersome. You stole over a quarter of what was in there and your colleague saw that your pockets were bulging with 20 pound notes.
“You said you'd return the money you’d stolen, but you never had more than £200 to be paid because some of the money was deducted from your salary. You committed the offence six days after you'd been sentenced for exactly the same offence. A shot against your bow, you narrowly escaped custody but you put your hand back into the till and you thought this was a victimless crime, but this is a significant amount of money for a small cafe bar.
“A small business’s profit margins are small, and when you steal from a small business that impact is upon them. I’ve considered suspending your sentence but this is too serious."