A TYRE fitter man has been jailed for stealing £10,000 in a sneaky raid on a friend’s fish processing business.
Thomas Smith went back to the Potted Fish business at Heathfield, Newton Abbot, after a night out with its boss but secretly opened a fire exit door so he could return later and break in.
He went back 20 minutes later and stole the cash from an office desk drawer, Exeter Crown Court was told. He was caught on CCTV but by the time police caught up with him he had spent the stolen money.
Smith, aged 26, of no fixed abode, admitted burglary and was jailed for eight months by Recorder Martin Meeke, QC, who said he had taken the money to support his lifestyle.
Miss Felicity Payne, prosecuting, said Smith knew company boss Jonathan Bayley through a mutual friend and one night in November they went out driving through Devon country lanes and socialising before going back to the factory at 3am.
The two men left in their own cars soon afterwards but Smith doubled back to go through the fire door he had left open and grab the cash which had come from the sale of a Land Rover.
Miss Payne said: ’By the time he was traced, Smith had used the bulk of the cash to clear some debts.’
The money had not been found and Smith spent £5,000 clearing debts and buying an I phone, clothes and repairing his car engine.
Martin Salloway, defending, said: ’It was a mean offence.’
He said the tyre fitter admitted what he had done and it was an impulsive act.
A confiscation hearing will be held later because Smith has money in a trust from his grandfather and may be forced to use it to repay the cash.