A WORKER at a Suffolk warehouse who made a �12,000 profit by selling books he had stolen from his employers on the internet has been spared an immediate prison sentence.

Jane Hunt

A WORKER at a Suffolk warehouse who made a �12,000 profit by selling books he had stolen from his employers on the internet has been spared an immediate prison sentence.

A manager at the Book Service in Brantham became aware that books and CD's from the company were being sold on the internet and 42-year-old Peter Diakowski was arrested after an investigator bought a book with a retail value of �150 for �45 from him on eBay.

Police seized a number of books and CD's worth more than �4,000 from Diakowski's home and they also discovered packaging and labels, said Ros Jones, prosecuting at Ipswich Crown Court.

Officers who checked Diakowski's Pay Pal account over the two year period during which he had stolen books found he had received payments of more than �12,000.

Diakowski, of Coast Road, West Mersea, admitted theft and converting criminal property and was given a 48 week jail sentence suspended for 18 months.

He was also ordered to do 150 hours unpaid work in the community and to pay �150 costs.

Recorder Mark Lucraft said Diakowski had “comprehensively” breached the trust his employers had placed in him.

Miss Jones told the court that The Book Service received unsold books from retail outlets and then either sent them into storage, destroyed them or sent them to smaller outlets.

Staff at the warehouse were allowed to purchase books at a reduced price but there were strict guidelines in relation to this, said Miss Jones.

She said that after his arrest Diakowski, who had no previous convictions, claimed he had purchased the books under the staff discount scheme and claimed there was no limit on what employees could take. However, this was denied by the company, said Miss Jones.

Martyn Levett, for Diakowski, said that not all the money paid into his client's eBay account had come from the sale of stolen books as he had also sold motor parts and kitchen units.

He said that Diakowski had acted dishonestly to pay debts rather than to allow him to lead an extravagant lifestyle.

He said that Diakowski worked in the area of the warehouse where the books were pulped and had not held a management position.