Man jailed for stealing customer cash at Huddersfield garage

May 14 2010 Huddersfield Daily Examiner

A CAR dealer has been jailed – after stealing from a Huddersfield garage.

Mark Walker-Thorpe, an after-sales manager at a Huddersfield car dealership, has been jailed for six months after he admitted stealing just over £1,700 from his employer.

He had been falsely entering payments made by customers.

And a court was told it was the second time he has been convicted of theft from his employer.

Walker-Thorpe, who now lives in Newquay, Cornwall, pocketed the cash over a two-year period while working for the Colin Appleyard Suzuki dealership in Folly Hall.

Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday that the 42-year-old started stealing money from cash payments made by customers just three years after he had been convicted of theft offences involving a previous car dealership where he worked.

Prosecutor Richard Walters revealed that in February, 2004, Walker-Thorpe was given a community punishment order by magistrates in Salford for theft offences committed while he was an assistant manager.

But in early 2007 Walker-Thorpe started stealing cash from Appleyard’s where he had responsibility for giving customers invoices and entering payments into the company’s computer.