For an excessive amount of love for playing, an worker in Liverpool threatened the livelihood of his employer and his pal. As a supervisor, he stole money from the enterprise on a number of events, placing the corporate on the verge of shutting down.
Paul Hodges, showing exterior a court docket in Liverpool. He stole from a former worker to feed his playing behavior. (Picture: Liverpool Echo)
Paul Hodges, 35, labored for years at a Shell fuel station, rising to grow to be a supervisor in 2014. As such, he had entry to the corporate’s cash as a part of his duties for managing the books.
Throughout his nine-year tenure on the station, he started siphoning funds. He in the end stole round £20,000 (US$24,108) earlier than getting caught, in response to the Liverpool Echo.
A routine accounting examine by his space supervisor raised a purple flag this previous February, resulting in a extra thorough overview of the cash.
Hodges has now appeared earlier than a choose on theft fees however solely acquired a lightweight sentence.
Too Little, Too Late
Upon opening the protected, the world supervisor found that two cash luggage protecting income from the 2 earlier days weren’t there. What he discovered was simply £200 (US$241).
Nobody else may have been chargeable for the theft, so the corporate referred to as Hodges to seek out out what occurred. Hodges, nevertheless, simply hung up the cellphone.
But it surely didn’t take lengthy for Hodges to indicate regret. He quickly referred to as again and tried to apologize for what he had accomplished. He even supplied to return the cash he took throughout his five-day spree. Hodges reportedly had playing issues, which led to the repeated thefts.
The enterprise then reported the incidents to the police. That’s when Hodges admitted the complete span of his theft. He advised police he had been taking cash and changing it for years, and his antics landed him in entrance of a court docket choose to reply for his actions.
Household Hardship
In court docket, Keith Janion, the enterprise proprietor, defined that Hodges’ thefts nearly worn out his enterprise. On the very least, they put him in a “poor monetary place.”
Hodges’ legal professional, Kate Morley, tried to lean on the court docket’s mercy. She defined that her shopper was struggling due to his full-time job and his obligations at residence.
He reportedly was the caregiver for his mom and 4 siblings, all of whom endure from “severe or long-standing diseases.” When his grandmother handed away, all of it turned an excessive amount of, and he allegedly turned to playing as an escape.
Morley added that jail time would put an undue hardship on the household, and her pleas labored. The choose in the end sentenced Hodges to twenty months in jail however suspended 18 months. As well as, he should full 150 hours of unpaid work and undergo rehabilitation.
The court docket additionally ordered Hodges to pay £5,000 (US$6,024).
