The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Council employee sold stolen smoke alarms
Acouncil supervisor stole thousands of pounds worth of life-saving equipment from his workplace and sold it on online auction site eBay.
Iain Gardyne spent nearly four years helping himself to heat and smoke alarms from under the nose of his employers at Dundee City Council.
The electrical contracts supervisor was eventually caught when another eBay user recognised the local au thor i ty -approved equipment on the sale site.
Management at the council’s Contract Services department started an investigation and discovered he had stolen more than 200 separate items.
It is understood equipment included heat and smoke alarms, sensors and heat detectors, and had an estimated value of between £5 ,000 and £10,000.
Yesterday at Dundee Sheriff Court, Gardyne, 55, admitted stealing council property from Contract Services between October 28 2015 and June 26 last year.
Gardyne, who left his post when the thefts came to light, admitted stealing 93 heat alarms, 66 sensors, 40 smoke alarms and 12 heat detectors from the council in Dundee.
Gar dyne, from Auchterhouse, was not present in court yesterday, but solicitor Jim Laverty entered a guilty plea on his behalf.
When he was quizzed by council management and police, Gardyne claimed the items were previously used and had been taken from homes while they were being replaced by new equipment.
However, a number of the items were being sold on eBay with information suggesting they were guaranteed for at least a decade from point of sale.
Dundee City Council’s scrutiny committee convener Kevin Keenan said he was told during a meeting with chief executive David Martin that the items had been sold for around £10,000.
The department where Mr Gardyne was employed was at the centre of a large scale corporate fraud investigation after a contract to provide heat, smoke and carbon monoxide detectors was awarded without being put out to tender.
Part of the probe centred on two staff members flying to a “customer event” in Spain hosted by the company which was awarded the valuable contract, Edmundson Electrical.
Gardyne was removed from his post and he has been ordered to appear personally in court to be sentenced in January.
Sheriff John Rafferty deferred sentence for social work reports.
He has since set up his own business, IG Electrical, and advertises as an “Approved electrical contractor for domestic, commercial & industrial work . Full rewiring , kitchens , bathrooms , smoke alarms, TV installation, inspection and testing.”