MADAM – It is beyond belief that a man can steal £17,000 from his ex-employer, have 18 previous convictions for 43 various offences and virtually get away with little more than a slap on the wrist.
I refer to the case (reported by SNJ, Sacked Driver’s £17,000 Fuel Theft) where Ashley Markey, after being sacked from his driving job at a Stonehouse company, went on to steal diesel to resell to unknown buyers with fuel cards he had retained from his old employers.
What on earth has happened to our judiciary and what message does it send to potential lawbreakers when such an abhorrent criminal with a string of offences is handed down a suspended sentence and a pathetic 300 hours of unpaid work?
This case clearly overturns the old precept that crime doesn’t pay.
B Coates
Rodborough