A Walsall man stole £10,000 worth of goods from his Stafford employer to pay off a loan shark – a judge was told.

Ian Hassell, aged 43, of Naunton Road, pleaded guilty to theft of household goods from Howden’s Joinery between September 2008 and January, at Stafford Crown Court yesterday.

The court heard how Hassell went to the police and confessed he had been plundering the St Albans Road Industrial Estate company over the four-month period.

Mr Michael Grey, defending, said Hassell had borrowed £1,500 from a loan shark in Wolverhampton and ended up paying back £13,000, at the rate of £200 a week.

Judge Mark Eades adjourned sentencing until August 12 for the defence to call evidence about the payments to the loan shark.