Dudley worker avoids jail after pocketing £18k worth of gold rings (From Dudley News)

Dudley worker avoids jail after pocketing £18k worth of gold rings

4:30pm Thursday 20th September 2012 in News

A 24 YEAR-old man who stole nearly 150 gold rings, valued at around £18,000, from the Dudley pawnbrokers shop where he worked, has avoided spending time behind bars.

David Bacon, a university graduate, who worked at Cash Converters, pocketed the rings over an 18 month period, selling them on at another jewellers in the town.

The employee, who was one of eight staff members working at the store, was finally rumbled when a covert camera was hidden in the shop and on two occasions Bacon was spotted taking jewellery and slipping it into his pocket.

Mr Warren Stanier prosecuting said that on the first occasion Bacon was seen to steal four gold rings and, on the second, he took a further two.

When questioned he said he had taken between 100 and 150 gold rings which resulted in a "significant loss" for the shop, Mr Stanier told Wolverhampton Crown Court.

It was a serious breach of trust by Bacon, he added, who, like his fellow employees, had keys to the display cabinets that contained the jewellery.

The covert camera was installed on the premises, he added, after an audit revealed significant discrepancies in the jewellery stock.

Mr Bernard Porter defending said Bacon took the first ring in what was an isolated incident because he was short of money and he then sold it on.

But "temptation then took over" because the theft went unnoticed and he continued taking rings over an 18 month period before he was caught.

Bacon of Carshalton Grove, Wolverhampton admitted theft and he was given a nine month jail term suspended for 18 months and ordered to carry out 300 hours unpaid work in the community.

Judge Helen Hughes said she accepted the offences were completely out of character and added: "You have now ruined your good name."