THE owner of Swindon Autoparts has spoken of his disappointment after the manager who was caught stealing from his store was jailed for eight months.

Robin French, who appeared at Swindon Crown Court on Thursday, had worked at the garage for more than 20 years before he was caught dipping his hand in the till, taking more than £5,000 worth of cash and stock in total.

Owner Andrew Brothwell, who took over the business in 2008, discovered French’s actions after he became concerned about cash flow and missing stock and carried out an audit, which confirmed his fears.

The 61-year-old had been siphoning off money to help him pay off his massive personal debts then creating false invoices and credit notes to cover his deception.

And since his thieving was uncovered the struggling company has had to make two of its six staff redundant, a judge at Swindon Crown Court was told.

Mr Brothwell said: “Rob French has let me down, he has let the customers down.

“His theft and actions, having a detrimental effect on the business, have threatened the security of his fellow employees, two of whom having subsequently been made redundant, so he has let them down also.

“Like many other businesses Swindon Autoparts suffered during this recession, I can only hope that now that this court case is over that the business can recover and loyal customers will return to Swindon Autoparts. After 25 years of offering a personal service to its customers the business deserves to progress.”

French was found to have taken £5,771.74 in cash and parts with a cost price to the company of £2,400.

In July Mr Brothwell had a meeting with French, who admitted what he had been doing. French was sacked and the police were called in.

When he was questioned he said he had run out of money and with his debts rising following an expensive relationship which had gone wrong he turned to theft.

In an attempt to cover his tracks he had created false invoices and credit notes to account for the missing cash.

“Rob French abused his position as manager of Swindon Autoparts. He implicated customers showing their accounts unpaid, although they were paid, which has in some cases affected their relationship with Swindon Autoparts,” said Mr Brothwell.

French, of The Brow, Swindon, pleaded guilty to one count of theft between January 31 and August 1 last year.

“I take no personal satisfaction from the outcome of this experience. It is a disappointing that what should have been a rewarding business agreement, working together with Rob French, has ended like this,” said Mr Brothwell.

Rob Ross, defending, said French accepted the offences deserved a custodial sentence but urged the court to suspend it.

Despite having debts of about £40,000, Mr Ross said his client may have to either structure repayments or go bankrupt so he could try and pay back some of what he took.

Mr Ross said:“He can’t put the clock back, he can’t pay the money back, but he wants to go as far as he can to put things straight.”

Jailing him Judge Euan Ambrose said: “This was a small personally owned business, half a dozen employees. Money was tight, underwritten by the person who was your own personal employer.

“Since you left the business, sacked, two employees have been made redundant and the job security of the remaining three remains uncertain. There are other factors at play, everyone knows that there has been a sharp economic downturn, but your activity, your theft, has put a strain on the business that it is struggling to cope with.

“This was theft in breach of a very high level of trust: it was persistent theft over six months in full knowledge of the fact that the business could ill afford the loss.

“It was a theft from Mr Brothwell directly, a theft that put the jobs of your fellow employees at risk.”