A SALES man gave a friend up to £2,200 worth of free items to convince him to buy a kitchen at Homebase, magistrates were told.
Joshua Wilson, of Falstaff Way, Hartford, was working as a sales advisor in the Huntingdon store when he failed to charge his friend for various items. Paul Brown, prosecuting, said Wilson, who had worked at the store for five years, wanted a friend to buy a kitchen from Homebase and arranged to give him items for free in return. Mr Brown said one of Wilson’s colleagues raised concerns when they saw the 21-year-old on the tills. They checked the till and saw Wilson had not charged for all the items. Wilson had instead carried out price checks to make it look like he was scanning the items.
Huntingdon Magistrates’ Court heard that between December 19 last year and February 9, Wilson carried out five fraudulent transactions, costing Homebase an estimated £2,200.
Michelle Elvin, mitigating, said: “He is ashamed. He is going to take a loan from his father to repay Homebase.”
On Thursday Wilson was given a 12-month community order and ordered to carry out 80 hours of unpaid work. He was ordered to repay Homebase and pay £85 costs and a £60 victim surcharge.
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