TWO sacked workers who returned to their site at night to steal expensive equipment in a drunken revenge mission have walked free from court.

The bungling duo were spotted by passing former colleagues - and one was even wearing a high-visibility jacket with his name on the back.

Mark Farrier and Stephen Parker - divorced fathers with drink problems - were sacked from the job in Durham for turning up stinking of alcohol.

They went home and returned to the site when it was dark to steal a stock of solar panels they had been fitting to roofs in the days leading up to it.

The pair lowered two panels from the top of the Gala theatre and had stacked a further 25 ready to be taken away when they were noticed.

Teesside Crown Court heard how the passing ex-workmates immediately recognised Parker and Farrier - who had Faz on the back of his jacket.

The thieves fled, but were arrested soon after in a car in the Market Place where 45-year-old Farrier was breathalysed for drink-driving.

Sentencing them both to community orders with supervision, Recorder Graham Cook told the pair: "I have no doubt it was revenge.

"You were intending to disrupt that job which could have had devastating effects on that job, and the company itself.

"Fellow employees, who you knew, could have lost their jobs as a result of your actions. The job would have been completely destroyed."

Farrier, from Battle Hill, and Parker, 50, from Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, were said to have long-term drink problems.

They were recruited by Sundog Energy to fit the panels to a number of buildings in the centre of Durham City in February last year.

Parker's barrister, Nicholas Lane, said he had been a wealthy roofing firm boss until the recession, and was sorry for his involvement in the crime.

Jamie Adams, for Farrier, said he had recently been diagnosed with a tumour on his hip after having chemotherapy for lung cancer.

The men admitted a charge of theft.