A copper thief with a gambling addiction has been sentenced in the Wellington District Court for stealing more than $88,000 worth of copper from his employer, a pipe and valve supplier.
Mark Layton from Wellington faced 37 counts of theft as a servant.
The court was told that Layton, who was employed as a technical sales assistant to MRC Transmark, ordered lengths of copper piping and cut them up, before selling them to scrap metal dealers for 46,901.55.
Layton then kept the proceeds and used the money to fund what Judge Carrie Wainwright described as an extremely serious gambling addiction.
Judge Wainwright sentenced Layton to pay MRC Transmark $1100 on each count, totalling $40,700.
He was also ordered to complete six months of community service and undergo counselling for gambling.
