Manager plundered shop safe to pay off loan shark
An assistant manager with an unblemished 22-year career in the retail trade is behind bars today after plundering the safe of the shop where he worked.
Narinder Kumar stole more than £6,000 to pay off loan sharks who were threatening him, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.
The married 39-year-old father of two had keys for the doors and safe at the Bright House shop in West Bromwich High Street where he had been employed for three years.
At the close of business on Saturday July 11, he took two money bags containing around £3,500 of the week's takings from the safe which he handed over to the loan shark, who said it was not enough.
So Kumar opened up the shop the following day and took another bag holding a further £2,500 to clear the debt leaving a further £7,500 untouched in the safe, explained Mr Howard Searle, prosecuting.
The assistant manager then admitted what he had done in a phone call to his boss who alerted police.
Mr Shiva Misra, defending, said: "He has worked in the retail business for 22 years during which he had been a model employee who was in a position of responsibility in all these jobs.
"He handled cash and had possession of keys to the premises without ever taking advantage of that.
"But he started borrowing money from a loan shark without the knowledge of his wife and family and began to fall behind with the repayments in the middle of last year.
"The loan shark made comments that made clear there would be further consequences if he did not repay the money.
"The defendant was in a terrible situation and had to find a significant sum to rid himself of the unwanted attention of the person to whom it was owed.
"The fact that a considerable amount of money was left in the safe shows he only took the exact amount needed to settle the debt."
Kumar from Hargreaves Street, East Park, Wolverhampton, who was of previous good character, pleaded guilty to theft and burglary and was jailed for 10 months.
Judge Stephen Eyre QC told him: "The amount involved was comparatively modest, you did not take all the money available and admitted what you had done the next day. But you were in a position of significant trust and abused it."
