Leeds employee used company card to buy £8,000 worth of petrol, court hears

Ben Feehan admitted that over a six-week period he would fill up 25-litre drums of fuel and exchange them to buy cocaine and alcohol, Leeds Crown Court was told.

When his office manager received the statements it showed 32-year-old Feehan had been visiting fuel stations up to four times a day between August 2 and September 16, 2021.

He admitted to the firm that he filled up his own car, and his mum’s, but they suspended him from his job pending further enquiries.

Then on September 16, he tried to use the payment card to buy £161 worth of fuel from the Roseville Road station in Oakwood, but the card had been cancelled and was declined.

He then left making no attempt to pay, prosecutor Hollie Alcock said.

After being arrested he denied the fraudulent activity and stealing the fuel.

He later pleaded guilty to both charges.

The court was told he has six previous convictions for seven offences.

James Littlehales, mitigating, told the court: “His life has changed substantially since then.

“The background to his offending is due to his use of drugs and alcohol, to commit these offences to fund his habit.”

He said Feehan, of St Alban Mount, Harehills, is now free of all drugs and alcohol, has stayed out of trouble since and has a new job with a bathroom company.

The judge, Recorder Andrew Latimer, told him that a prison sentence was inevitable, but agreed to suspended it.

He handed him 10 months’ jail, suspended for 18 months, and ordered him to carry out 160 hours of unpaid work.

He told him: “This was for personal gain and you sold on the fuel to a third party.

"It was a breach of trust and you took the best part of £8,000.

"You are a man in employment, but there’s no room for mistakes or slip-ups now.

"If you do not do the unpaid work or commit another offence the sentence could be activated.”