A COUNCIL has defended its accounting procedures after a former employee told a court he was able steal thousands of pounds of equipment because there was no auditing of his department.

Darlington Borough Council said Phillip Gaskin had ‘betrayed the trust’ placed in him and used his position of responsibility in the council’s maintenance department for his own gain.

Gaskin, of Lady Kathryn Grove, Darlington, was jailed for 18 months by a judge at Teesside Crown Court on Monday after pleaded guilty to stealing £78,000 of showers, thermostats and valves to sell on eBay to cover spiralling gambling debts.

The 40-year-old told police that he had managed to get away with the thefts, which took place between 2007 and 2009 and again from the end of last year to March this year, because there was no auditing by the council.

The council has denied there was no auditing in place and said Gaskin used his ‘insider knowledge’ to get around the system.

The authority has also said that it asked Gaskin to resign when the allegations of theft first came to light instead of suspending him so that it would not have to pay him while investigations took place.

It has emerged that Gaskin, who had worked for the council since he was 16, oversaw maintenance of council properties and so had the authority to order parts but manipulated the system to order one or two more parts without it looking out of place.

A whistleblower alerted the council to his scheme and the police were contacted.

At the time of Gaskin’s offending the council used spot checks to ensure that the work had been done – the authority said it has now changed the system to check that every item that is ordered is used correctly.

A Darlington Borough Council spokeswoman said: “As an employer, you have to place trust in your staff and sadly in this instance our trust was betrayed.

"This was a well-respected member of staff who used his position of responsibility for his own gain.

“There’s an important balance to strike between the amount of time you spend checking your staff while giving them the autonomy they need to do their job efficiently.

“We had an auditing system in place that he used his insider knowledge to get around.

“This is something that will not be tolerated and we have worked with the police to bring the case to court and review our procedures.”

The council repeated its statement that all money lost due to Gaskin’s actions would be recovered through insurance.