Prison Sentence for Tyre Fraudster

An employee at a County Durham fast fit outlet who stole tyres from his workplace over a four-and-a-half year period has been imprisoned four 15 months. Christopher Edward Watson, who worked at Tyre Spot in Darlington, entered non-existent transactions into the company’s computer system in order to make it appear that tyres were being transferred from Darlington to other Tyre Spot depots. Watson then sold these tyres, which had a total retail value of almost £120,000, to friends and other willing buyers.

During Watson’s in Teesside Crown Court, the prosecution stated his dishonest transactions were only uncovered in mid-2009 when another staff member’s curiosity was piqued by a shipment involving a particularly rare tyre. Following his arrest, Watson told police he had stolen the tyres in order to repay debts after accidentally discovering a loophole in the company’s software system. The court noted that in the local area Watson had become a well-known source of very cheap tyres.