Thieving Prison Officers ‘Unable to Resist Temptation’

THIEVING prison officers ‘unable to resist temptation’ stole thousands worth of electronics from a Salford prison.

Two prison officers were caught after stealing thousands of pounds’ worth of kit from the Forest Bank jail in Salford. The sneaky pair had stolen thousands of items and then resold them using eBay and CeX to make a staggering profit.

Paul Albertsen, aged 42, and Paul Hewitt, aged 41, had managed to take items such as games consoles and DVDs. The items had been taken into the prison for a workshop where inmates would then repackage them, but the prison officers saw a way to turn a profit.

Speaking at the trial Judge Anthony Cross QC told how duo had committed a “terrible breach of trust” and said that, “I regret to say that it is impossible to contemplate anything other than a custodial sentence.

“Each of you must have known that, when you were doing what you were doing.

“You must have known that if you were caught, to jail you would go.”

Albertsen had been a prison officer for 15 years while Hewitt had been in the service for seven years. The pair made a staggering amount of money out of the scheme with Albertsen making £95,000 and Hewitt gaining slightly less at £67,000.

Lawyers for the pair had claimed that they were unable to risk the temptation but they have now both been jailed for 15 months.

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