AN EX-SOLDIER security firm driver who kept more than £11,000 in cash he had collected from three Co-op stores to try to pay off debts has narrowly escaped being jailed.
Imposing an eight-month sentence, a judge at Warwick Crown Court told cash-in-transit driver Andrew Cave that, ‘rather against my better judgement,’ he would suspend it for two years.
Cave, 25, of Rectory Close, Exhall, who had pleaded guilty to theft by an employee, was also ordered to do 200 hours of unpaid work and to take part in a rehabilitation activity.
Prosecutor Rebecca Wade said Cave had worked as a cash-in-transit driver for Coventry-based Security Plus Ltd since November 2015, and his job included collecting cash from Co-op stores.
The theft came to light in early June after a family member found two Security Plus packages of cash in the boot of Cave’s car. Cave, who had last been seen at work on May 22, admitted to his relative he had taken it from his employers.
The relative found another bag of cash in his bedroom, and handed the money, a total of £3,625, back to Security Plus.
Security Plus, who had been unaware of any money going missing, reported the matter to the police.
Cave had disappeared from home, and was finally arrested in Lincolnshire after details of his car had been circulated.
When he was interviewed he admitted he had collected cash from three Co-op stores in north Warwickshire and Hinckley.
He should have scanned the packages of cash, which would have entered them onto the Security Plus system, but instead he had made an excuse to give the staff handwritten receipts.
Miss Wade said that, although the company was reluctant to outline the procedure it used, it had confirmed that Cave had stolen a total of £11,860.
And in addition to the money handed back by his relative, Cave has since repaid a further £2,700 from savings, she added.
David Coyle, defending, said: “He pleaded guilty at the first opportunity, and his co-operation started well before that, in the police station after his arrest. His remorse is genuine.”
He said Cave had been ‘devastated’ after splitting up with his long-term partner, having run up debts of around £10,000 in a desperate attempt to keep the relationship going.
Mr Coyle said Cave, who had previously spent four years in the Army, serving with the 5th Regiment Royal Artillery, was being hounded by the loan companies.
And around that time he was introduced to cocaine, and quickly went from recreational use to becoming ‘somewhat addicted’ and spending large amount on the drug.
“The discovery by his family member, he says, is a blessing. It helped him to realise he couldn’t carry on the way he was, and he referred himself to the Recovery Partnership and his addiction is now under control,” he added.
Sentencing Cave, Judge Stephen Eyre QC told him: “You are a young man who has not been in trouble with the courts before, but I have to sentence you for the serious offence of stealing money from your employer.
“You were given the responsible job of being a cash in transit driver, and you took money which was entrusted to your care.
“The way you took that money required a degree of sophistication and planning, and you sought to cover your tracks by giving receipts to the shops. That stealing was to fund drug use and/or gambling.
“The courts must treat severely those who steal from their employers when they are in a position of trust, and your theft did not occur on just one occasion.
“But I take account of the fact that this is the first time you have been in trouble, that you have a history of working, including a period in the Forces, and that you have taken steps to address your addiction and have repaid at least part of the money.
“Rather against my better judgement, because of the factors I’ve set out, I will suspend the sentence.”
