[A] BUILDERS’ merchant branch manager who stole more than £3,000 from his employer has been given a suspended jail term.
Terry Naylor raided a safe, at the Jewson base in Egremont which he ran, after colleagues had left for the day on October 23. Debt-laden Naylor, 38, snatched £3,033.44 worth of takings, petty cash, a till float and customer deposits, along with a charity envelope containing £25.
Carlisle Crown Court heard how Naylor then faked a burglary at the premises. He used a power tool to damage the safe and removed a door which he threw into a river; left a roller-shutter open at the site; and later triggered an alarm before filing a bogus break-in report with police.
But suspicions were swiftly raised by a Jewson security consultant, prompting Naylor to make “full and frank” admissions when quizzed. He was said to have been “desperate” at the time having borrowed £2,000 from loan sharks.
He admitted two theft charges, criminal damage and perverting the course of public justice.
Alison Whalley, defending, said Naylor was “remorseful and regrets his actions”. He had since paid almost half the money back to Jewson – and handed back the charity cash.
After hearing mitigation, Recorder Julie Clemitson suspended a 14-month prison sentence for 18 months. Naylor, of The Crescent, Thornhill, Egremont, was ordered to complete 160 hours’ unpaid work.
