News Timber thief gets caught by bosses
A man stole hundreds of pounds worth of timber from his own firm, a court heard.
James Coates (27) drove off with about eight pieces of timber worth up to £1,000.
But he was caught out when two of his bosses at Howarth Timber Engineers gave chase and caught him on a main road with the timber piled up on the back of his transit van.
Mr Coates, of Cobble Lane, Eastrington, pleaded not guilty to the allegation, claiming he was merely testing newly-fitted springs on his Ford Transit Tipper when he loaded the timber from a pick-up truck onto his van. But Goole magistrates did not believe him and found him guilty of theft by employee.
The incident took place at about 6.15am on March 30 last year, when Mr Coates drove his van to work an hour early.
Mr Coates, who had worked as a fork-lift truck driver for the Breighton timber merchants for almost four years, drove to the back of the yard and used a forklift truck to load the timber onto his vehicle.
He then drove away from the yard through the main gates, where a security guard was on duty.
He was heading out towards the B1128 Bubwith Road when his operations manager Darren Stead and productions manager Robert Belton caught up with him. Mr Coates pulled his van over to the side and was asked by his managers what he was doing with the timber.
Julie Laverack-Glanville, prosecuting, told the court that Mr Coates said something along the lines of 'What happens now?' to his bosses.
Ms Laverack-Glanville told the court Mr Coates had deliberately gone to work early so he would not be seen by his bosses when he stole the wood. He was told to drive back to the site, which he did, and was then told he would face disciplinary proceedings. He was later sacked.
James Gray, defending, said Mr Coates had no intention of stealing the paralan wood - a heavy-duty engineering timber which is used for roof beams and construction - and merely wanted to test two new springs he had had fitted on his transit van in readiness for its MoT test.
He argued that it was not in fact Mr Coates who had loaded the timber onto the van but a colleague who had since left the firm. The bench rejected this claim.
Howarth Timber's operations manager Darren Stead told the court that Mr Coates loaded the timber onto his van after the man who was driving the pick-up got out and Mr Coates got into the sideloader.
He then drove from the site out to Bubwith village and the main entrance of the nearby airfield.
Mr Stead said he followed Mr Coates up the airfield and pulled him over just before he reached the main road. Mr Coates agreed to unload the timber back at the site.
Mr Belton estimated the timber to be worth between £900 and £1,000.
When Coates was later arrested by a police constable and was told about the timber he allegedly said: "What timber?"
In court he maintained he was just testing the new springs on his Transit van. He claimed he never left the site and had explained why he was using the timber to the security guard at the security gates. The guard has since left the company and cannot be traced. Mr Coates claimed he just "drove up and down the aereodrome two or thre times" and that his bosses had "shed a different light on the matter".
He admitted he did not ask for permission to take the wood but claimed that he planned to take the wood back to the site.
Mr Coates, who has previous convictions for driving while disqualified and drink-driving, was found guilty but had his sentence adjourned until February 22 to allow for a probation report.
He was granted unconditional bail.
Published on 14th February 2008 in News.
Add to: Digg | del.icio.us | Reddit
Comments
There are currently no comments
Comments are closed for this article.