A STORE manager stole £10,000 from its safe, then claimed staff were liars when they didn’t support his account that he hadn’t done it, York Crown Court heard.

Ian Todd, 30, turned off the CCTV at the Co-op’s branch on Beagle Ridge Drive, Acomb, and “effectively removed evidence” said Matthew Collins, prosecuting.

The theft was similar to one he had carried out on a former employer in 2012.

“You are a man with sticky fingers when it comes to your employers,” the Recorder of York, Judge Sean Morris told him.

“Your actions brought suspicion on those hard-working innocent people who would have been mortified they would be thought about as potential thieves.”

Mr Collins said all staff at the Co-op store were suspected of the theft and all except Todd had proof they were elsewhere at the time of the theft.

When their accounts didn’t agree with Todd’s account of where he was at the relevant time, he called them liars.

But before the CCTV had been switched off, it had captured him putting money in his pocket instead of the safe.

Todd, of Dijon Avenue, Acomb, pleaded guilty to theft committed on July 26, 2019.

He was ordered to repay the £10,000 and given a two-year prison sentence suspended for two years on condition he does 280 hours’ unpaid work.

He no longer works for the Co-op store.

For Todd, Graham Parkin said: “He has lost a very good position”.

The former duty store manager now works for the minimum wage on two temporary jobs.

Todd and a friend had moved into a flat they couldn’t afford and Todd had taken out a loan with a very high APR.

He had eventually moved back in with his mother.

“He has nothing to show for the offence, but he has no debt,” said the solicitor advocate.

Mr Collins said Todd’s responsibilities as duty manager included putting money into the safe.

A check when the money was due to be collected showed that £10,000 was missing and a banking error was ruled out.

Mr Parkin said the court case had affected Todd’s mental health.