AN IT engineer who stole thousands of pounds worth of computer equipment from work, to sell on eBay, has walked free from court.

Dewaldt Hermann started to take wireless routers from the office a few months after starting his job in late 2010.

When police searched the 33-year-old’s garage, they found more property stolen from Nokia Siemens in Swindon.

But after hearing that he had no previous convictions and had a new job, a judge imposed a community order.

Tessa Hingston, prosecuting at Swindon Crown Court, said he was found out after he left a computer, at the office in Kembrey Park, logged on to the online auction site.

When a colleague went to use the machine, they found a list of property belonging to the company being offered for sale.

She said police were called in and, as well as the routers he had already sold, which netted more than £6,000, they found more in his garage.

Although the stolen property had cost the company more than £28,000, most of it, she said, was thought to have a scrap value of about a quarter of that total.

Hermann, of Peregrine Road, Bishops Green, near Newbury, pleaded guilty to a charge of theft.

David Maunder, defending, said his client had no previous convictions and was struggling financially at the time he stole the items.

He said Hermann was a married man with two teenage step-children and the family finances suffered when his wife had to go part-time at work.

The routers were being stored in an office at the building where he worked, he said, after having broken down and been removed from business premises such as coffee shops.

Believing the faulty machines were to be dumped, he said, Hermann took them and, after refurbishing them, sold them online.

He said his client started a new job last September, with IT solutions company 2E2, and was the main breadwinner for his family.

Passing sentence, Judge Euan Ambrose said: “The items that you stole had a variety of different fates.

“Some were repaired, refurbished and sold on eBay. In fact, your work had effect and they were sold at a greater value than they would have been worth. Some you still had in your garage.

“The total value was £7,067: that valuation reflects the fact that the items you stole were not new items that could be sold to consumers. They were non-working routers that had been returned to the company because they weren’t working.”

He imposed a one-year community order and told Hermann to complete 300 hours of community service.

Because the branch of the company he had worked for had since folded, they were not seeking compensation. However, the judge ordered him to pay £725 in costs.