A MECHANICAL fitter smuggled home more than £33,000 worth of equipment from his workplace to sell it on eBay.

Today Mark Standridge was beginning a 12-month jail sentence after someone tipped off his bosses in an anonymous letter and his crimes were uncovered.

York Crown Court heard that bosses had been delighted with Standridge's work at Lambert Engineering of Tadcaster, where he had worked for 28 years after joining straight from school.

They did not know that for more than two years, the 44-year-old father-of-two was stealing small, valuable items of stock and auctioning them on the eBay website. "Had it not been for the anonymous letter which was sent from work suggesting to your boss that someone from the company was stealing, this would have continued unabated and got even more out of control," said Judge Stephen Ashurst. "But the game is up now."

"The problem it seems to me is not only the length of time over which you were stealing, but also the commercial element which was involved.

"So successful was that, there were effectively repeat orders from your customers."

Standridge, of Calcaria Crescent, Tadcaster, pleaded guilty to theft and converting criminal proceeds.

Prosecutor Simon Ostler said the firm's management was concerned about stock losses from March 2007 and in August, urged all staff to cut down on waste. Then in November, managing director Warren Limbert got an anonymous letter at his home about Standridge's thefts.

Police arrested the thief on November 8 and found a bag in his home containing industrial stock from the firm worth £3,590. eBay records revealed he had sold £30,300 more stock.

Standridge's barrister, Taryn Turner, said the family home would probably be sold to meet prosecution confiscation and compensation demands.

"He is acutely conscious that the company he has been a loyal servant of for very many years deserved better," she said.

She handed in character references from past and present management.

Standridge stole because he had run up debts gambling online with Betfirm, Ladbrookes and William Hill.

The court hear he hid his gambling addiction from his wife, but following the revelation of that and his crimes, his marriage was now over.

He was attending meetings of Gamblers Anonymous.