A man working for nursery firm Mamas & Papas stole products after finding out that he had been made redundant.
And brazen thief Andrew Chorlton, who worked in the dispatch department at the Colnebridge headquarters, managed to use the firm’s own postal system to send stolen items to a friend’s address.
He stole from the company over a three week period.
Chorlton, 34, of Springwood Hall Gardens in Springwood, appeared at Kirklees Magistrates’ Court and pleaded guilty to three charges of theft by employee.
The father-of-one also admitted fraud by using the company’s postal system to dispatch personal parcels intending to make a gain.
The court heard that the thefts took place between August 20 and September 11.
Chorlton had been working for the company for four-and-a-half years and his job involved sending out items to retail outlets or directly to customers.
Mr Campbell said: “He intercepted items that had been in the dispatch area unclaimed. Then he sent them out and the fraud was he used Mamas & Papas’ own postal system to do that.”
Chorlton had the stolen goods sent to a friend who accepted them on his behalf.
The thefts were discovered when a suspicious manager marked the box of one of the items and tracked where it was sent to.
Sam Jackson, mitigating, said that his client had been a valued member of staff.
He started work with the firm initially with an agency for the first 18 months and then became a full time staff member for the next three years.
But at the time of the thefts he had been informed that he was going to be made redundant.
Mr Jackson said: “At the same time he was struggling financially and this caused him to act in a manner he wouldn’t usually.”
The first item Chorlton stole was a rocking animal, the court heard.
Mr Jackson said that this was given to his friend’s son as a christening present.
He added: “He then (took) two rolls of wallpaper which had been lying about the office for eight months.
“The third item was a pushchair that would have retailed at £180 to £230.
“It was at that stage he realised he was getting in over his head and he abandoned it down an alleyway in Huddersfield.”
Chorlton was sacked by the firm after the thefts were revealed.
Magistrates ordered him to pay £271 compensation to Mamas & Papas.
Chorlton must also complete 100 hours of unpaid work and pay £145 in court costs and a victim surcharge.