A front of house staff member stole almost £2,000 from the restaurant he worked at, a court heard.
Daniel Morris appeared at Liverpool Crown Court on Wednesday. Chris Hopkins, prosecuting, detailed that the defendant was employed by Mustard & Co Bistro and Bar in Crosby, as a front of house manager on September 9, 2021.
This meant he was responsible for the running of the tills and taking payments. Mr Hopkins said Morris, 32, gave the impression to management that he was trustworthy and responsible, so they felt comfortable taking a small step back from the business and giving him more responsibility.
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However, in mid-November the owner became suspicious about some void transactions and investigated. It became clear that Morris was taking cash from customers and voiding the transaction in the till before pocketing the money.
In total he took £1,500 from the tills over a period of weeks. On another occasion, two members of the public made a reservation at the restaurant with Morris.
He asked them to pay £100 and £150 deposits to reserve the booking, but to send the money to his personal bank account. When the day of their reservation came, they arrived at the restaurant and were told the booking did not exist.
Towards the end of November, the owner confronted Morris about his concerns, and he appeared “shaky” and left the restaurant offering no explanation for the missing money. Morris later told the owner that he had left some cash in two envelopes but they were found to be empty.
Days later, he contacted the owner stating he did not steal the money, but had tested positive for coronavirus so was isolating and could not come back to the restaurant. On November 11, he showed up to Mustard and Co and said the missing money had been in his wallet, but that wallet had since been stolen from a house party.
He was arrested that month and at interview offered a prepared statement, but gave no clear admissions to the theft or fraud. In a business impact statement written by Oliver Phillips and read by the prosecution, the financial and reputational loss to the business was outlined.
It explained that the business was not insured so the owners had to bear the financial losses, and they had issues purchasing stock following the thefts. On November 16, Morris failed to appear at Liverpool Magistrates Court and on December 14, appeared and pleaded guilty to one count of theft and two counts of fraud and was remanded into custody.
Morris, of Hampton Road, Southport, has six previous convictions for 24 offences, including in 2015 when he was sentenced for three counts of fraud. In 2017 he was also convicted of 16 counts of fraud and handed a suspended sentence.
Martine Snowden, defending, said Morris had already served three months in custody and had made great steps towards rehabilitation. She said he has gained three stone in weight due to being clean from drugs in custody, and now mentors other prisoners.
Ms Snowden said Morris welcomes any assistance he can get from probation upon release. Judge Andrew Menary KC sentenced Morris to eight months imprisonment suspended for 12 months, and ordered him to complete 20 rehabilitation activity days plus 150 hours of unpaid work.
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