A petrol station staff member caught on camera as he stole almost £2,000-worth of cigarettes from behind the counter has been sentenced by a judge.
Stephen Anthony Young, 28, was employed to serve customers at the Hills Longmile garage at Lillyhall, near Workington.
But suspicions were raised in November last year and a store manager checked CCTV footage taken from cameras covering different areas of the shop.
This showed Young taking spare cigarettes from an area behind the counter which he loaded into a bin bag. This happened twice in three days, on October 22 and October 24 2022, Carlisle Crown Court was told today.
“He has then gone through to the back passage of the store and handed the cigarettes over on these two occasions to an unknown person,” said prosecutor Paul Brookwell.
It had a total sale value of £1,966.47.
In court, Young, of Poole Road, Salterbeck, Worknigton, admitted theft of tobacco on the two dates.
Defence barrister Anthony Parkinson said Young had since lost his job at the store. He was training to be an HGV driver and seeking to relocate to the North East to start afresh.
Judge Nicholas Barker observed it had been hand in the till offending, and tantamount to stealing to order.
Hearing Young had no other criminal convictions to his name, the judge imposed an 18-month community order comprising 120 hours’ unpaid work and a 15-day rehabilitation requirement. Young must also pay compensation.
“When anybody goes and works in a business, they do so because they have been put in a position of trust,” Judge Barker told him. “Businesses can’t work if people who work within them are not trustworthy, and it undermines the business. You knew exactly what you were doing.”
