A DELIVERY driver was jailed today as a warning to others after he said that thieving was rife in the job.

Edwin Adams, 30, drove for Currys electricals from October to December last year making 28 deliveries in all.

When police raided his Stockton home last December acting on a tip-off they found a large number of items in his living room, garage and shed including DVDs, a television and hi-fi and unopened cartons.

The total value was £6,102, but the retail value was £11,425, and all the items were recovered apart from some missing stock.

Father-of-three Adams told police that he had been employed on a previous occasion and it occurred to him that it was easy to steal items, said prosecutor Harry Hadfield.

Adams removed items from his van in a layby and hid them in bushes until he returned later in his car and transported them home.

He made £350 from selling to others who he would not name and also at car boot sales, Teesside Crown Court was told.

Rachel Dyson, defending, said that he had been under considerable financial pressure and his wife was ill leaving him to look after the children.

He had been on medication for depression, and he was fully aware that a custodial sentence was possible even though his wife was due to go into hospital next month.

The Recorder of Middlesbrough, Judge Peter Fox QC, told him: "You had been doing this it appears for virtually the length of your employment as delivery driver from October to December.

"This was a continuing breach of trust which your employers had placed in you.

"It appears from what you have told the probation officer for the pre-sentence report that such offending is prevalent upon the part of those in your occupation, so the punishment should also reflect a deterrent so that other delivery drivers must know what the consequences are."

Adams, of Eastport Road, was jailed for six months after he pleaded guilty to theft of goods worth £6,102, and he was ordered to forfeit £350 found in his home.

1:46pm Friday 16th May 2008

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