Two men who stole £233,000 in machine parts from Tata Steel walk free from Yorkshire court

The value of the stolen bearings was estimated at 233,000

Hull Crown Court heard that manager Mark Elston, 48, used a sign-in belonging to a team member to order bearings on a computerised stock control system, which his friend Tim Barry then picked up from the stores in his Audi.

The pair agreed to split the proceeds fifty-fifty.

In total, some 660 imperial bearings - used to prevent friction between moving parts - worth around £233,000 were stolen between July 2012 and November 2014, when the pair were arrested following an in internal investigation.

Barry, 49, of Newton Aycliffe, Durham, had worked for Blue Diamond Engineering in Durham for 28 years, a "reputable company which had substantial contracts with Tata."

In an attempt to cover his tracks, Elston, who had worked for Tata Steel from the age of 20, and was a plant manager at one of the mills at Scunthorpe, got rid of his laptop, reporting it as stolen to police.

Both sought to delete evidence of their phone and text contact from their mobiles.

It also emerged that Elston had asked the HR department at Tata to alter his annual leave record retrospectively to try and create an alibi.

Judge Paul Watson QC said he may be "pilloried" for passing a suspended sentence on Elston, who had only admitted theft "in the teeth of overwhelming evidence on the day of the trial."

But he said: "You have already learned your lesson and learned it the hard way.

"I am quite satisfied that you will never trouble the court again."

He said the company Elston now worked for in Brigg wanted to continue to employ him in the management team and both men were likely to have to pay back an amount far in excess of the money they had made from selling the parts.

Jeremy Evans, from the CPS, called Elston a "classic example of a serious white collar criminal " who was driven by "sheer greed" and who "sought to boost an already generous income with carefully planned criminality".

He had enjoyed a "high-end lifestyle involving regular trips overseas trips."

Barry had pleaded guilty to theft in May 2018 and fully co-operated with the authorities, the court heard.

He was sentenced to 14 months, suspended for two years and ordered to undertake 180 hours’ unpaid work.

Elston was sentenced to two years, suspended for two years, and will have to do 240 hours’ unpaid work.