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A disgruntled ex-shop worker wreaked revenge on his former employers by stealing more than £20,000 from them and giving it all away, a court heard.

Charles Gosling burgled his former workplace of Dunelm Mill in Stockton with another man, smashed a hole in an office ceiling and opened a safe.

They stuffed the safe’s contents into their trousers and made off with £20,538 cash from the furniture store.

The 34-year-old was employed by the store two years ago but left “prior to his dismissal as a consequence of bad behaviour whilst at work”, Teesside Crown Court was told .

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Prosecutor Rachel Masters said the intruder alarm was triggered in the Portrack Lane building at about 4.35am on November 18 last year.

Employees found the safe open, drawers pulled out on to the floor and a large hole in the cash office ceiling.

CCTV showed him and another unidentified man putting money from the safe into their trousers.

When they noticed the camera, Gosling tried to pull his top over his head, but the makeshift disguise moved and he was clearly seen.

The former worker admitted burglary - but was motivated by revenge

Gosling, of Swan Avenue, Hardwick, Stockton , admitted the burglary - his first - and had 13 offences on his record.

Alex Bousfield, defending, said Gosling’s motivation for the crime was not financial but revenge.

He said Gosling dealt with a grievance against his employers in “a very bad way”.

He told the court: “He felt that he had been victimised and he’d been pushed out of that employment and they had it in for him really.

“There was going to be a disciplinary proceeding about, it seems, his temperament.

“He felt that it was better to leave before he was pushed out, but he didn’t want to.

“It was a job that had supported him, his partner, the house. He’s lost all that and he’s not worked since.”

Man is now even less employable than he was before

He told how Gosling suffered depression, took an overdose of medication to try to kill himself and had his stomach pumped in hospital.

Mr Bousfield added: “He tells me he felt that he wanted to get some revenge really for what had happened to him.

“He didn’t want the money. He gave it all away.

“It was quite a sloppy offence. It could have been carried out in a much more effective way had it been planned.

“He’s even less employable now than he was before.”

Judge says he knew where he was doing - and jails him

Judge Howard Crowson told Gosling: “You knew exactly where you were going.

“You say that money was not your motivation. I’m not sure how much that matters.

“You’re either a greedy man or a man who took revenge.”

He took into account Gosling’s health problems and the difficult period in his life, which reduced his sentence but did not save him from prison.

“Your sympathy is then expired, I’m afraid,” said the judge, jailing Gosling for 15 months.