News

Nokia workers stole phones from closing warehouse

By Amy Taylor
March 07, 2013

TWO security guards working for Nokia stole more than 50 mobile phones from the company’s closing Farnborough warehouse.

Michael Bentley, 29, and Stephen Sayers, 33, sold phones and accessories which they claimed to have retrieved from destruction bins between October 9 and November 29, as the company closed down its Southwood business park premises.

They both pleaded guilty ‘on a basis’, accepting that they stole the phones but only because they believed they were being sent away to be destroyed. Robin Piggott, defending Bentley, said he took the phones only because the factory was ‘winding down’.

“Perhaps it’s human nature but this sort of thing happens, employees tend to help themselves,” he said.

“That’s not an excuse, that’s an indication of why he’s done it, that everybody was doing it. The most aggravating feature is that he was employed as a security guard.”

Sayers, of Holly Lane, Godalming, was charged with stealing 39 phones and selling them to CEX, an international company which buys and sells technology products.

Bentley, of Marrowbrook Lane, Farnborough, stole 14 handsets.

They were caught out because CEX has an information sharing agreement with Nokia and the Metropolitan Police, and ran a search of the two men’s accounts.

“There had been a recent theft of phones, which drew attention to this matter,” Serena Edwards, prosecuting, told Aldershot Magistrates’ Court on February 28.

“The company had started rolling out redundancies for the slow closing of the site and there were phones of various types still at the site yet to be sorted through.

“The buildings were security gated and only authorised staff can enter,” she added.

She said the value of the phones was difficult to calculate, and that the Crown Prosecution Service did not accept the basis of the men’s plea.

“A number of empty boxes had been found by staff at the site. Bentley monitored CCTV in the control room, and when bins were brought in, he went through them to separate phones from recyclable material.

“Sayers said they came from sorting bins for destruction, but when he began to be challenged in respect of selling them on, he then gave ‘no comment’ responses in interview.”

Defending Sayers, Rebecca Shortt said he was ‘deeply sorry’ and knew that he would ‘certainly never work in security again’.

They were each ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work as part of a 12-month order. Sayers will have to pay £645, including £500 in compensation, £85 court costs and a £60 victim surcharge, while Bentley will pay £295, including £250 in compensation.