A pair of fraudsters were spared jail yesterday after stealing more than £7,000 from their employers in a work-place scam.
Kieron Dickinson and David Hopwood were both employed at Sitel call centre in Longbenton, North Tyneside, when they devised a scheme to steal from their employers.
At the time, the centre had a contract with train bookings firm Trainline, handling about 10% of all UK rail ticket services and often refunding customers who had problems with their tickets.
But Newcastle Crown Court heard the duo realised they could set up a system to make false refunds with the help of a relative, who set up an account to pay money into.
Stuart Graham, prosecuting, said: "The defendants realised they could set up a system for making refunds.
"They had an associate and they made payments of refunds into that associate's account."
Between January and April, 2005, the pair made 10 fake payments, netting themselves a total of £7,200, which they shared after giving a small amount to the relative whose name they used.
Yesterday, Judge Guy Whitburn branded them "thoroughly dishonest" after they both pleaded guilty to 10 counts of theft. In sentencing, he said: "You two are thoroughly dishonest.
"You were both employed on reasonable wages by a company that trusted you."
He added: "This was really rather a calculated way of making money".
Both men were ordered to do 100 hours unpaid work in the community, while Dickinson, of Woodhorn Farm in Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, Northumberland, was also given a three-month prison sentence suspended for two years.
The court had heard the 25-year-old used the money go out socialising with friends, but was filled with remorse.
It was the ninth time Hopwood, of Sixth Avenue in Blyth, Northumberland, had appeared at the court to be sentenced and Gavin Doig, defending, said it had been "an exquisite form of torture" for the 30-year-old.
He insisted the father-of-one was hard-working and appealed for leniency.
In September 2005, Sitel lost the Trainline contract - leaving more than 100 jobs vulnerable.
No-one from Sitel was available for comment last night.
