A MAINTENANCE worker at Oswaldtwistle Mills stole more than £23,000 from his employers over a two and a half year period.

Blackburn magistrates heard that Matthew James Anderton repeatedly claimed petty cash for electrical equipment and then submitted invoices he had created on his home computer.

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Anderton, 32, of Marlowe Avenue, Accrington, pleaded guilty to theft by employee.

He was sent on bail to Burnley Crown Court to be sentenced after the magistrates ruled their powers were insufficient.

On 125 occasions Anderton produced detailed invoices from two fictitious companies to support the cash releases.

A third, genuine company e-mailed an invoice to Anderton which he ‘doctored’ and used on four occasions to obtain cash.