A MAN who stole Pirelli tyres valued at £102,000 from the company's Carlisle site has avoided an immediate prison term.

Graham Wait, 58, carried out the crime while working as a wagon driver for a Scottish transport company.

On almost 100 separate occasions, he asked for hundreds of high value tyres to be added to his otherwise legitimate load. This task was overseen by a crooked supervisor who told him the top-end products were not being officially recorded.

Wait was estimated to have pocketed tens of thousands of pounds by passing on the loot to a third party who sold them on the eBay website.

Wait was sentenced at Carlisle Crown Court today having been convicted of theft by a jury earlier this year.

A man of previous good character, he was given an 18-month prison sentence for the crime. This was suspended for two years by Judge Peter Davies.

Wait, of Mill Road, Bathgate, was also ordered to complete 200 hours' unpaid work and pay £1,500 costs.