A debt-ridden cash collector falsely claimed he had been robbed so he could steal thousands of pounds from his employer after receiving threats from loan sharks.
Frank Stuart claimed thieves had attacked him and stolen £4,102 in cash and £800 in shopping vouchers, which he had collected for Ramsden Financial Ltd.
Police were called in after the incident on March 19.
But CCTV footage of the area where
the 62-year-old claimed to have been robbed revealed he made up the incident and pocketed the cash and vouchers.
Stuart, of Tanfield Road, Thorney Close, Sunderland, was arrested and admitted theft and wasting police time.
He went on to plead guilty to the offences at Sunderland Magistrates' Court.
Prosecutor Claire Ward said: "CCTV showed the defendant opening the boot of the car and then going off camera. It was clear no robbery had taken place."
None of the cash or vouchers has been recovered.
Defending, Angus Westgarth said his client was a man of previous good character who had got into financial difficulties. He is a married man with three adult children, running a home, a hard-working man all his life, 62 years old, no previous trouble with the law, no previous convictions.
"What on earth puts him in the position where he would commit these serious offences?"
Magistrates heard loan sharks had threatened Stuart, his home and family over unpaid debts.
"He was aware of these people who he had borrowed money from that examples had been made of at least one other, when the family home had been trashed, the car had been trashed.
"He could not go to the police because like the long arm of the law, these people are very long reaching, and even if they were apprehended, there are others that would collect this debt."
Mr Westgarth said Stuart had been living in fear of what the debt collectors would do and now was terrified of going to prison.
He had began paying the stolen money back and was facing bankruptcy.
At Friday's hearing, magistrates imposed two 26-week sentences, to run concurrently, suspended for two years.
Stuart was also ordered to carry out 280 hours community service over 12 months and repay Ramsden Financial Services at a rate of £5 a week.
No order for costs was made.
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