A former Tapi deputy manager who stole more than £30,000 from the chain to fund his gambling habit has been told he must repay £6,000 and avoided being sent to prison.
Daniel Salmon, 26, worked at the Basingstoke branch when he stole £31,313 between 19 July and 3 August by refunding money from the store’s card machine six times to multiple bank cards owned by him, Winchester Crown Court was told.
The first refund was for £685 and the sixth was for £8,650.
‘The transactions were discovered by the company and as a result, the company’s south director Antony Brown came to the store on 5 August. While Mr Brown was there, Salmon admitted to what he had done. Salmon said the refunds increased in size as he realised it was not being monitored. The first refund was for £685 and the sixth refund was for £8,650,’ prosecutor Holly Fagan told the court.
‘He told Mr Brown that he did the refunds from the card machine rather than the computer system knowing that it wouldn’t notice that way. He had the ability to reset the card machine to zero. So, at the end of the day, Salmon would do that and then transfer the money to his bank card and then again reset it to zero. That additional transaction was not picked up sometimes.’
Salmon was terminated from his job on 5 August and was interviewed by police in September, when he admitted that he used the money to fund his gambling. He told officers that once he realised how easy it was to steal, his intention was to continue until he was caught.
The court was told that Salmon was seeing a counsellor, but neither the counsellor nor his family and friends knew about his gambling at that time.
He admitted to police that he would pay back the money if he could, but he had lost all the money to gambling.
Salmon had earlier pleaded guilty to theft at Basingstoke Magistrates’ Court.
Earlier this year he was given a community resolution and was told to attend a victim awareness course for another offence after he admitted to taking three credit cards in his partner’s name without her knowledge.
Salmon, who represented himself, told Judge Susan Evans he was sorry for his actions and had not gambled since 5 August and that he was seeing a private counsellor twice a week and has resolved the problems with his partner.
The judge said there was a ‘realistic prospect of rehabilitation’ and sentenced him to a 12-month prison sentence suspended for two years. He must also complete 200 hours of unpaid work and to pay £500 a month to his former employer from January 2023.
