UK COMPUTERS STOLEN FROM SCHOOLBarking and Dagenham PostThief stole computers to sell on eBay

26 October 2005
A THIEF who stole £7,000 worth of school computer equipment from the council to sell on eBay has narrowly avoided being sent to jail.

Zakir Mirza, 29, began stealing computers just two months after starting work at the Westbury Centre in Barking.

The IT engineer, now a full-time carer for his mum, started at the centre in June 2003.

Snaresbrook Crown Court heard he resorted to stealing after suffering financial problems, which Judge Alan Pardoe, blamed on his "greed" for living beyond his means.

Mirza, from Henley Road, Ilford, was caught after two projectors went missing from the centre.

One of his managers grew suspicious and carried out his own investigation, and found one of the machines for sale on the eBay auction website.

The seller was from Ilford, and the manager soon established that Mirza was the thief.

Police obtained a warrant to search his home, and found the projector and other equipment.

Mirza was not at home at the time, but then handed himself in at Barking police station.

Later, when he appeared at Barking Magistrates' Court, he pleaded guilty to six counts of theft, and asked for nine others to be taken into account.

Narita Bahra, prosecuting, said: "He admitted that he sold the items on eBay or intended to.

"His marriage had recently broken up and the items were stolen because of financial difficulties."

However, police later found a list of sales he had made on the website, and they had started soon after he was first employed by the council.

Miss Bahra continued: "Two months after he started work the thefts began, and they carried on at regular intervals until his arrest."

She added that no claim for compensation has been made from the council, although police have applied for the cash to be confiscated under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Michelle Fawcett, mitigating, said: "His marriage wasn't working and his wife began making substantial financial demands.

"He also had a bank loan of £25,000 which they were using as a deposit on a flat in Leicester, which is being built.

"It will be finished in December, when a mortgage of £162,000 will start.

"He is now back living with his family and acting as full-time carer to his mother, but he wants to get another job, however menial, to pay money into the family pot.

"He is concerned that by going to prison he will meet hardened criminals, worried about the care needed by his mother and about the financial obligations he has.

"I would ask for the court to consider giving him a second chance."

Judge Pardoe, said: "You were trusted to install computer equipment and not to steal it.

"But you did steal a great deal of it and I have no doubt you would have gone on to steal more if you hadn't been discovered.

"I hope the abuse of trust is clear to you, because it is definitely clear to me.

"Anyone working in schools is bound to trust those employed to install the computers. You career is now ruined because people won't trust you.

"I am completely unimpressed by your financial difficulties. If someone lives beyond their means and cannot afford it, that is not mitigation, it is greed."

Mirza was warned that although he had avoided a prison sentence, this was his last chance.

He was sentenced to 250 hours community service, which must be completed in 12 months.