A former Grattan employee who stole an iPhone and a watch during a shift has been jailed.

Waqar Hussain, who had been working as a postal sorter at the firm’s Listerhills warehouse, was locked up for ten weeks for the breach of trust offence and the Recorder of Bradford Judge Roger Thomas QC added a further 16 weeks in jail because the 28-year-old had also breached a suspended prison sentence for car-related offences.

Prosecutor Caroline Wigin told Bradford Crown Court yesterday a foreman at Hussain’s workplace saw him acting suspiciously during his shift last November. The foreman later found an empty box for an iPhone valued at £400 and when he checked Hussain’s locker he found the gadget hidden in a trainer.

Miss Wigin said a bin close to the locker was also searched and the foreman found a stolen watch valued at about £200.

Hussain, of Greenbank Road, Allerton, Bradford, pleaded guilty to theft when he appeared before the city’s magistrates last month and they committed his case to the crown court for sentence after being told about his suspended prison term.

Miss Wigin said that six-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, was imposed at Leeds Crown Court last April and related to an offence of dangerous driving involving a police pursuit.

Tom Rushbrooke, for Hussain, revealed that his client suffered from kidney failure and he submitted that the thefts were committed at a time when the defendant was struggling financially and he foolishly succumbed to temptation.

Judge Thomas said Hussain had got himself into trouble quite a few times over the past few years and, even with the judge’s warning about his suspended sentence ringing in his ears, he had gone on to commit another offence.

The judge said Hussain had taken to the opportunity to steal the items in breach of the trust placed in him by his employers.