A thieving healthcare worker is being forced to sell his home to repay his employers the money he made by stealing products and selling them on eBay.
Graham Rust has been given six months to sell his home at Rewe, near Tiverton, so he can repay £33,608.14 under the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA).
He was a clerk at the Alliance Healthcare warehouse in Cofton Road, Exeter for 24 years until he was caught taking stock which he sold in eBay under the pseudonym monkey01.
Single father Rust, aged 50, of The Hollies, Rewe, received an eight month suspended sentence and 200 hours unpaid community work in July last year after admitting stealing £19,259.11.
He returned to Exeter Crown Court for a POCA hearing at which he was ordered to repay £33,608.14 within six months or face an 18 month jail sentence.
The amount he must repay is higher than the amount he admitted stealing because it is calculated on the basis of the amount he received through Paypal for selling items on eBay.
Recorder Mr Kevin de Haan, QC, rubber stamped the order after being told the amount by which Rust benefited from crime had been agreed and that his total available assets were £272,375.
Miss Janice Eagles, prosecuting, said:"It is not in dispute that the amount available is clearly more than the benefit figure. He says he will be selling his house to meet the confiscation claim."
Mr Joss Ticehurst, defending, said the figures are agreed but Rust will need time to sell his home and raise the money.
During the case last year the court heard how Rust started stealing because he felt under valued and put upon by his employer after 24 years of loyal service.
He was trapped by an internal investigation in which a check was made on Alliance products being sold on eBay from addresses close to their warehouses.
It flagged up an account called monkey01 in which large numbers of items including glucose test strips were sold at prices which undercut their own.
Rust was not represented at that hearing but told the Judge he had not acted out of greed.
He said:"The money did help make a better life for me and my son but that is not why I did it. I am not the most dynamic person and all my life I have tended to be put upon and abused.
"That was the case with Alliance Healthcare. They had a very poor history. I would not have done it otherwise. It was not in my nature, it was just the place and the time."
