Chesterfield Curry’s worker pawned nearly £2,000 stolen goods at Cash Converters

Alexander Redfern, 28, was caught in May this year when the Curry’s store manager noticed a tablet “concealed” underneath a counter while walking around the shop floor.

Chesterfield Magistrates Court heard Redfern was seen showing the device to potential customers on CCTV the previous day - which aroused his boss’s suspicions.

Prosecutor Becky Allsop said checks with Cash Converters showed there had been 12 transactions over a two-year period.

While missing items at the Curry’s store had been given “write-off” reports in its computer system and logged as “unexplained" cases.

Magistrates were told during a police interview Redfern - who had worked at the shop since February 2019 - admitted everything.

He told police the thefts began with a video game and he used the proceeds to cover his overdraft after getting into financial difficulty - however the thefts continued.

Telling police the store’s search policy was “soft”, Redfern said he was “sorry” but he “couldn’t stop himself”.

Redfern’s solicitor Ben Strelley said his client began taking the goods when his partner - who he met at the store - left him.

Mr Strelley said the defendant, left to pay all the bills at their shared flat, was now “living outside of his means” and “that’s where the problem started”.

He said: “At some points he had no money to feed himself - it was not something he wanted to do.

“This started as a one-off but when he got away with it he did it a number of further times.”

Redfern, of Whitmore Avenue, Grassmoor, admitted theft from an employer.

A magistrate told him: “This can’t really be described as a moment of madness because it went on over a considerable period of time and there were a considerable number of thefts.”

He was handed a 12-month community order with 140 hours unpaid work and made to pay £1,786 compensation to Curry’s - the amount he stole from them.

Redfern was also made to pay £85 court costs and a £95 victim surcharge.

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