A husband and wife duo used stolen Tesco stamps before ramping up spends of over £48,000 on shopping and gift cards.
Some of them had been used to buy gift vouchers from sites such as Amazon and Halfords and were even spent on Visa E cards towards a trip to Corfu.
A case at Manchester Crown Court heard that Steven Plummer, 50, from Bury, had been working for disposal company Weeshred when he noticed that the supermarket had been disposing of cards containing saver stamps. He began taking the cards from the bags before steaming off unused stamps to spend in store.
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The court was told that between the period of 7th June 2018 and 3rd September 2019, Steven had spent a total of £24,891.49 at various stores and between 31st July 2018 and 1st September 2019, partner Jamie-Lee had spent £23,135 - totalling £48,026.49. They also shared some of the gift cards with family and friends, who were unaware where how the gift cards had been purchased, and an additional total of £4,821 was spent.
Steven had given some of the stamps to Jamie-Lee, who had had retired from work and suffered from various disabilities. She spent the vouchers as an activity to ‘fill her day’, the court was told.
Prosecuting, Ms Victoria Lewis said that the cards could be spent once they had reached their maximum number of stamps, worth £1 each. On occasion, as many as 11 of the cards were used in one transaction.
The pair were eventually caught out when the supermarket giant noticed a spike in the use of the vouchers and identified them through their Tesco Clubcards they had used alongside the purchases. Police found gift cards and receipts linked to the offending when they searched their home on Holme Avenue.
Ms Lewis said: “In 2018, Steven was employed by Weeshred and his role was to collect waste from pick up points and deliver the waste to the depot where it would be destroyed.
“He noticed the waste bags contained a number of savings stamps attached to cards. He began taking the discarded cards from the bags, and would then steam the unspoilt stamps from the cards to use again. At first, he used them in the local area but would then travel around the country using them.
“Jamie-Lee was given some of the cards by Steven and would then travel to shops around the north west area. Tesco management saw a spike in the use of the cards and after investigating, found that Jamie-Lee and Steven had used their club cards during transactions.
“Jamie-Lee admitted to using the cards but said she didn’t know they were stolen and that Steven had said they were a thank you gift from work. She said she had been to different stores using them because she had retired due to ill health and wanted to fill her day. Steven made full admissions and accepted spending the cards on a variety of items including using the Visa E cards towards a holiday to Corfu."
The court heard that as a result, Tesco suffered total losses of £52,847,49 and that Steven’s employer Weeshred also lost their £24,000 yearly contract with the supermarket.
Defending Steven, Mr Jon Close said that the offence had ‘certainly played a part’ in the breakdown of his marriage with Jamie and that the sentencing taking more than three years to reach court was ‘unjustified’.
The court heard that since the offences, Steven has lost his job with Weeshred, and his family home with former partner Jamie-Lee. He plead guilty to charges of fraud by false representation and theft by an employee.
He added: “The second these offences were found, Steven admitted them to Weeshred and Tesco at the first opportunity and once he was eventually arrested by police, admitted them again in full.
“These were offences that were caught between 2018 and 2019, and it is unjustifiable that we are at sentence in 2022. He isn’t an experienced criminal and this is his first conviction. He is a stranger to the criminal justice system and the delay in this case has been awful and caused him to suffer sleepless nights and feelings of panic.
“This drip, drip, drip effect has been going on for years without any justification. He plead guilty at the first possible opportunity, it is evident that he is extremely remorseful, embarrassed and ashamed.
“He has already felt the impact of his actions, through the loss of his employment and home, and the impact on his family and the day to day relationships with his son. There is absolutely a chance of rehabilitation and time in custody would impact his family life.”
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Defending Jamie-Lee, Mr Michael Lea added that she had ‘expressed willingness to repay her debt’ and was attempting ‘continue with the life she rebuilt.” She had originally plead not guilty to the offence of fraud by false representation but later changed her plea to guilty in July of last year.
He said: “She has expressed willingness to repay her debt to society and is willing to work. She has significant debt and financial issues but she has gotten a new job working 30 to 40 hours in the customer service sector and would be willing to forego her weekends and make herself available for unpaid work on the weekends to pay off her debts.
“Mrs Plummer would like to continue with the new life that she has rebuilt and move on from her marriage breakdown.”
Sentencing, Judge Recorder Atherton said: “Steven used his position as a driver for Weeshred as an opportunity to steal valuable stamps from Tesco which he redeemed for his own financial benefit. He used his employment to commit this fraud over a prolonged period.
"His employers trusted him to securely dispose of confidential documents. By his actions, he placed his employers in breach of their contracts with Tesco. These are serious breaches with serious consequences for all concerned.
"Jamie-Lee was a willing participant to the fraud initiated by Steven and she benefited to the amount of £23,000. She was clearly fully committed to this fraudulent activity and she first sought to blame Mr Plummer for her own offending."
Steven was sentenced to 16 months imprisonment, suspended for two years, 150 hours unpaid work and rehabilitation activity for 10 days as well as £340 in costs.
Jamie-Lee was handed a 43 weeks suspended jail term for two years, and a requirement of unpaid work of 150 hours and rehabilitation activity of five days and £500 in costs.
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