STOCK worth tens of thousands of pounds was discovered missing when an audit was carried out at a firm that had won a contract to fit out one of the UK’s new aircraft carriers.

The scale of the crime emerged in court yesterday when plumbing supervisor Andrew Cox was jailed and colleague Neil Hall narrowly avoided a prison sentence.

They were told by Judge Peter Fox – a Royal Navy seaman before joing the legal profession – that their dishonesty was a stain on the proud shipbuilding history of the River Tees.

The pair, both from Billingham, near Stockton, were working for Hertel Technical Services Ltd in Stockton, which was responsible for building and fitting out accommodation for the carriers.

It became apparent last November that piles of stock – mostly taps and circuit breakers, worth more than £30,000 – had gone missing from the site, said Graeme Gaston, prosecuting.

Police searched the homes of Cox and Hall and found stolen plumbing equipment, and also discovered Cox had been selling the items on the internet and they had made £4,600 between them.

Jennifer Coxon, mitigating, revealed that 29-year-old Cox was now unemployed and his wife was on maternity leave, and his family would struggle to cope if he was locked up.

Duncan McReddie, for Hall, 33, said his partner relied on him, and said: “He is willing to undertake unpaid work and he would intend to discharge it in the shortest possible order.”

Hall, of Rievaulx Avenue, was given a 12-week prison sentence, suspended for two years, with 200 hours of unpaid community work, while Cox, of Mond Crescent, was jailed for 12 weeks.

Judge Fox told them: “In times past, the River Tees and the community here have built many warships. During the Second World War, the Tees had a proud tradition of construction and commission.

“That industry has faded away almost entirely. There are only such examples as you were engaged in left. One of the reasons for that is the cost of production. One of the reasons for the cost of production is the waste. One of the reasons for the waste is theft – your theft, for example.

“Plainly, there needs to be some example made of you both so that the word gets about in this community, and possibly wider, that such breach of trust is wholly unacceptable, is damaging in an insidious way to others as well as your employers and the taxpayer, ultimately.”