A BUSINESSMAN said he has lost faith in the judiciary after it emerged his former filling station manager will not be locked up despite stealing £85,000.

John Upex spoke out after Avril Jennifer Henderson was convicted of the theft he said brought about the closure of the Newton Aycliffe filling station, with the loss of five jobs.

Henderson, 63, will be sentenced at Durham Crown Court, on Wednesday, but Recorder Graham Hyland has already indicated he will suspend any prison sentence.

Mr Upex, 61, said he understands Henderson, of Brockwell Close, Newton Aycliffe, is planning to go on a holiday to Portugal.

He said: "I was disappointed that she wasn’t going to be sent to prison but now it looks like she is just going to walk away scot free and off on holiday.

"This will send out a terrible message, I would rather see her jailed but there should at least be some kind of community penalty.

"I used to have absolute faith in the British justice system but it’s completely gone."

Henderson denied stealing any cash from the Blue Bell garage but a jury returned a unanimous guilty verdict, on Wednesday, after less than half an hour’s deliberation.

The court heard Henderson took cash from the garage she managed for Mr Upex between 2005 and 2010 which she covered up by inflating business account sales.

Recorder Hyland said he will suspend the "inevitable" prison sentence in view of her previous good character and accepted she could not do unpaid work through ill health.

Mr Upex, who has several other businesses as part of the Upex Group, said: "I’m quite disappointed that it took our staff so long to find it but she was clever and it was hard to spot, even when we had the accounts audited.”

He added: "People have lost their jobs because of her, we had planning permission in place to double the size of the shop at the garage and it was handy to have a garage for the other businesses, but we couldn’t keep it going because of her."