Bank worker caught red-handed with cash

Caught red-handed on a secret camera, a senior Wolverhampton bank worker sneaks into a back room to steal £5,000 from his city branch.

Steven Heer worked as a £40,000-a-year financial planning adviser at Santander in the city centre and had no idea covert filming was going on.

The 30-year-old, who also worked at Stafford and Birmingham branches, waited until closing time before walking into a private room that was strictly off limits to him.

The CCTV footage, shown to a judge at Wolverhampton Crown Court, is less than a minute long and shows the defendant pocketing two bundles of cash from a float in a drawer.

The money should have been locked in a vault but had been left out by another worker, who has not faced any action.

He then slips back out with the money tucked into an inside pocket of his suit jacket.

Yesterday a judge condemned the breach of trust and told Heer he had avoided an immediate jail sentence "by the skin of his teeth".

The court was told that Heer, who had held the role for four years but had been with Santander for 10 years, was interviewed by the company and claimed he had taken the cash to highlight "lax security" but admitted he had not raised his concerns with managers.

He claimed he had kept the money in his bedroom, but it had gone by the time police had arrived.

Heer, of Willenhall Road, Wolverhampton, admitted the theft from the Dudley Street branch, which happened on July 30 last year.

The court was told Santander bosses had installed the secret camera due to "concerns", but did not reveal any more details.

Judge Martin Walsh told Heer: "Any theft by somebody in a significant position of responsibility in breach of trust passes the custodial threshold by a significant degree.

"This was not sophisticated and you didn't seek to throw suspicion on other persons, but you were effectively caught red handed.

"You entered part of the premises you had no right to access and you removed £5,000 from an insecure float.

"Anybody who commits an offence of theft in a position of trust face the very real possibility of going to custody immediately.

"You've escaped custody by the skin of your teeth today." He jailed him for eight months, suspended for two years, and ordered him to do 240 hours of unpaid work.

Mr Roy Patterson, defending, said: "What he still can't explain is why he held onto the money for five weeks.

"He says he intended to approach the assistant manager but he panicked.

"He still can't explain why he did it in the way he did. He's disgusted at the shame he has brought on his family."

One of Heer's brothers had taken the money from his room at the family house as it was being renovated and it was not unusual for large amounts of money to be kept there, said Mr Patterson. Mr Patterson said Heer "had been stressed" because he had been working between four branches at the time of the theft.

He was also said to have felt agrieved that peoperty had been stolen from his jacket while it was hanging up at the bank and no action had been taken.

Heer, who has repaid the cash, was also ordered to pay £532 costs. He has since been sacked by the bank, the court heard.