Leeds cocaine addict stole £13,000 in cash and equipment while working as manager of tool company

Addict Christopher Emsley spent months loading up expensive into equipment into vans and driving them off to sell.

He even used unwitting employees to help him put them into the van, who simply thought he was delivering the tools to customers.

Emsley was jailed at Leeds Crown Court this week.

He had worked as the depot manager at Smith’s Equipment Hire in Castleford. The firm rents out plant machinery, prosecutor Bashir Ahmed said.

Emsley was responsible for the day-to-day running of the depot, supervising staff and having the only key to the safe on site, was tasked with banking up.

But bosses of the Willowbridge Way firm had little idea that Emsley was harbouring a cocaine addiction and spent around five months desperately stealing cash and equipment to sell and pay off his dealers.

The 42-year-old was only caught after he failed to complete the depot’s banking in autumn of 2022, and bosses stepped in.

Using a spare key to open the safe, they found almost £900 was missing.

It triggered a full investigation in which the full extent of Emsley’s deception became apparent.

CCTV footage showed him loading up equipment on multiple occasions- including vibrating plates, strimmers, saws, generators, air-conditioning units and cement mixers - across the summer months of 2022.

They were then driven away by Emsley and never seen again. The estimated cost of the equipment and the cash he had stolen came to £13,477.

Emsley, of Parkways Avenue, Oulton, admitted two counts of theft and one of fraud. He has no previous convictions but a caution for shoplifting in 2019.

A victim impact statement from Smith’s labelled Emsley as “disgraceful” and said they had lost business and their reputation was damaged because of his actions.

Mitigating, Michael Collins said: “How does a 42-year-old with no previous convictions get here?”

He said that Emsley’s 18-year relationship broke down and he had “lost all sense of propriety”.

Mr Collins added: “He began to drink, and before long it turned into cocaine. He built up a debt he could not manage. In short, he stole from the company to repay his debt.

“He was faced with a choice and he made the wrong one. Drug suppliers were threatening him and his two children.

“He should have gone to the police but he stole to keep the bullies off his back.”

He said Emsley was now drug-free and had found a new partner. But the court was told that he was yet to repay any of the money he owed.

Judge Ray Singh told Emsley: “You held a significantly important and trustworthy role.

“This was not a one-off or spontaneous. It continued for the best part of five months.

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“It may have continued if you had not been rumbled.

“A painstaking trawl through the CCTV showed you taking expensive items from your employer, placing them in company vans and leaving.”

He said the offending was too serious for anything other than a custodial sentence, so jailed him for 12 months.