A COURIER who stole more than £6,000 worth of goods by delivering them to himself has today been criticised by his former employers for putting his friends and colleagues at risk.

A COURIER who stole more than £6,000 worth of goods by delivering them to himself has today been criticised by his former employers for putting his friends and colleagues at risk.

David Cartwright, a driver for Initial City Link, was sentenced at South East Suffolk Magistrates' Court for stealing packages he should have been delivering to customers' homes.

Magistrates and his former employers both condemned Cartwright for the thefts, saying he put suspicion on his colleagues.

At an earlier hearing, Cartwright, of Thorney Road, Capel St Mary, had pleaded guilty to nine counts of theft involving him taking a digital camera, a camcorder, computer monitors, car immobilisers, a DVD recorder, 57 pairs of gold earrings and a laptop computer.

The ten-month spree of thefts began just two months after he starting working for the Ipswich-based employers.

Tim Dickison, regional security manager for Initial City Link, said: "These drivers are given lots of responsibility and are in a position of trust.

"When this happens, it spreads suspicion on all colleagues which is unfair."

Cartwright, 34, stored the stolen items at addresses in Maple Close and Chevalier Street, between December 2003 and October last year.

Ian Persaud, mitigating, said: "Mr Cartwright is remorseful, guilt-ridden and ashamed at what he has done.

"He had an excellent job at another company for two years but after working extremely hard he was thrown aside and lost his job.

"He was so depressed it had a dramatic impact.

"He had tens of thousands of pounds passing through his hands and had the opportunity for almost a year to steal lots of property, but he didn't. There were just nine occasions."

Stephen Coleman, prosecuting, said: "The company previously had a good record of security and so they noticed when it was no longer the case, when a large number of losses were being made and items were going missing."

Cartwright, who has now taken a job with a maritime company, was given an 18-month rehabilitation order and told to do 100 hours of unpaid work in the community.

At the sentencing on Monday, Cartwright was also ordered to pay £864 compensation and £70 costs.

Bernie Turner, chairman of the bench, said: "There are a number aggravating factors involved.

"First, it's a serious breach of trust.

"The offences also took place over a long ten-month period and they were organised, with forethought.

"Suspicion would have inevitably fallen on your colleagues."