Judge orders probe into assistant’s employment How did convicted thief get a job with retail store?

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A judge has ordered a probe into how a convicted thief landed a job working at a Canterbury electrical retail store – and stole up to £20,000 worth of stock.

Michael Tonta, 32, has 10 criminal convictions, including theft from an employer and benefit fraud.

Yet last year he was employed as a shop assistant at the city’s Comet store in Sturry Road – which has now ceased trading.

Tonta, of Keyworth Mews, Canterbury, has admitted stealing goods from the store – worth as much as £20,000, prosecutors believe.

CCTV cameras caught the assistant and a gang of crooks helping themselves to TVs, washing machines and Bose speaker systems in December last year.

Nationwide electrical chain Comet had gone into liquidation a month earlier but staff were still employed at some of the premises.

Prosecutors say that during the 45-minute video, tags are removed from expensive items and just taken from the store by men and women.

At one point Tonta is seen patting one of the thieves on the back as the gang make numerous trips into the store to steal the goods. Police were only alerted to the wholescale thieving when a member of the public raised the alarm, prosecutor Paul Tapsell told the hearing.

His lawyers claim that the assistant has admitted his part in the theft – but claims he did it under duress from the gang.

But the prosecutor said: “The video also clearly shows the defendant patting one of the others on the back – which is hardly the actions of somebody acting under duress.”

Now a judge at Canterbury Crown Court has ruled there should be a special hearing where Tonta will be expected to

Picture from Facebook Michael Tonta has admitted stealing from Comet