A barman who stole thousands of pounds in pub taki

A barman who stole thousands of pounds in pub takings and laid
low in Tenerife for nearly a year was today Tuesday given a chance
to pay back the money and avoid jail.

Snaresbrook Crown Court was told that as an employee of the
Heathcote public house in Grove Green Road, Leyton, Kenneth Pengelly,
44, had full access to three tills and a key to the safe.

And late on Sunday March 10 last year he helped himself to a
total of pnds stlg 4,400 in cash before jetting off with his
girlfriend.

In February this year he was arrested at Gatwick Airport on his
return from Tenerife where he had been since the theft, said Miss
Georgina Hamilton, prosecuting.

At Leyton police station he admitted the offence saying: ‘I saw
the opportunity and took the money.

‘
Pengelly, of Dock Road, Grays, Essex, pleaded guilty to theft
from the Charrington Brewery.

Mr Peter Woodall, defending, said that Pengelly had since got
himself a job as a building site agent and already had pnds stlg 1,000
in an account to pay Charrington compensation.

Judge Geoffrey Grigson deferred sentence until December 11
to give him a chance to pay back the money.

ENDS