A delivery driver who previously landed a £100,000 lottery windfall was caught thieving £15,000 worth of shoes.
David Swatman was able to walk free from court despite admitting to stealing the trainers haul from his employer FootAsylum.
The 43-year-old from Keighley, West Yorkshire, won the small fortune on a scratch card in 2018, and vowed to use the cash to follow his beloved Liverpool FC.
But during his job delivering parcels for the footwear store, Swatman repeatedly swiped boxes for himself, a court heard.
He escaped an immediate prison sentence on Wednesday after admitting a single charge of theft worth £15,450 from between August and September 2020.
Daniel Lister, prosecuting, told Manchester crown court the charge covered a series of thefts where Swatman would take boxes of trainers and give them to a third party during runs from the company's depot in Broughton, north Wales, to its base in Manchester.
His pilfering came to light when the company discovered a discrepancy in the number of boxes leaving the depot and those arriving in Manchester, the Manchester Evening News reports.
Mr Lister said five boxes and two bags full of trainers never arrived and a review of CCTV revealed Swatman had made an "unauthorised stop" at the wheel, when the items were transferred into another vehicle.
A further probe found Swatman had made various other stops on two other dates before handing over boxes.
Police arrested him and, when Swatman was interviewed, he admitted the thefts and estimated he had stolen about 22 boxes, each one containing trainers worth up to £1,000.
The court heard the defendant had memorised an 'encryption lock' on the vehicles to carry out his crimes.
The court was told Swatman had 22 sets of previous convictions covering 44 offences, including a drink drive offence said to have been committed shortly after the FootAsylum thefts.
Max Saffman, defending, said his client was now working part-time as a window fitter earning about £300 per week, although he hoped to be working full time soon. He pointed to his client's admission of guilt from the moment he was arrested.
The judge, His Honour Judge Field KC, expressed astonishment that it had taken more than two years to bring the case to court when the defendant had admitted his crime at the outset.
He said the delay had been "extraordinary" and meant the defendant had been living with the threat of jail throughout his wait to be sentenced.
Judge Field said: "It wasn't just one theft. It was a series of thefts that occurred as long ago as the late summer of 2020 when you were working as a delivery driver for FootAsylum.
"You used your privileged position to steal goods from your delivery vehicle for the benefit of others... It was a breach of the trust placed in you by your employers."
The judge said there had been a "degree of sophistication" although the defendant had not acted alone. The goods had "plainly been stolen to order".
But Judge Field said the defendant had shown "genuine remorse" and had made "frank admissions as soon as you were confronted".
He said Swatman had "taken steps to address the problems that may have led you to make the very bad decision to steal from your employer".
The judge went on: "I have formed the strong view by what you have achieved over the last two-and-a-half years that there is a realistic prospect of rehabilitation in your case."
Swatman was handed a 20 month jail sentence suspended for two years. He was also ordered to carry out five days of rehabilitation activity, to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work and pay £425 prosecution costs.
In 2018, it was widely reported that Swatman won £100,000 on a scratchcard and that he planned to use the money to follow his football team, Liverpool.
He said at the time: "I’ve followed Liverpool all my life but because of my job, I often have to work weekends and can’t see them play as often as I would like to. Thanks to this win, I can treat not only myself but my friends as well.
"Who knows, I could even get tickets to the Champions League final in Kiev if Liverpool make it there!"
