A TRUSTED employee stole £15,000 worth of meat and diesel from a firm he had spent thirty years with.

Robert Bedford would drive onto the abbatoir site near Gisburn, before the normal working day would start and help himself to meat.

He got a security guard to turn a blind eye and also got him to swtich off CCTV cameras so that he could steal fuel from Dunbia Ltd in secret.

Bedford, 61, was given a suspended sentence when he appeared at Preston Crown Court.

The defendant, of Ashleigh Street, Darwen, had pleaded guilty to a charge of theft.

The offence covered dates between April 1 and November 7 2011.

Sarah Johnson, prosecuting, said Bedford had worked for the firm since December 1980. Before losing his job, he had been a carcasses manager, in charge of seven other workers.

He was responsible for opening the plant each morning and was viewed as a trusted employee.

Miss Johnson told the court: "He entered into an arrangement with a security guard to facilitate going onto the plant undetected, for the purpose of removing diesel and meat items.

"There were arrangements for the CCTV cameras to be switched off, so that he could drive onto the site undetected, park up and load items of meat before driving off.”

But on November 6 that year a company director spotted the defendant removing diesel from the site. This prompted an investigation by the directors and the police became involved.

The guard involved was given an adult caution for his involvement.

Bedford has since paid a £15,000 cheque to the company.

Bedford already had a previous conviction for stealing from a former employer some thirty years or so ago.

Defence barrister Richard Bennett said Bedford could offer no cogent explanation for what happened.

"He is adamant he passed on the meat and received for his trouble £100 per side of meat. He himself then got £75, having given £25 to the security guard".

Bedford was said to have made around £2,000 from the theft.

He was given 12 months jail, suspended for two years, with an order to do 200 hours unpaid work and pay £425 costs.

For a four months period he will be on a curfew, due to run from midnight to 10am.