Nightclub worker who stole £3,000 ‘to bail out friend’ jailed

Richard Dodgson (40) of Westmorland Avenue, Blackpool, was working as a temporary manager at OutOut Nightclub in St Ives when he stole the cash on November 24.

Owners of the club noticed the money was missing and, after checking CCTV, they discovered Dodgson had taken it down to the cellar where it should be kept. But instead of leaving it there, he put it in his jacket pocket and left.

During a police interview Dodgson was shown the footage of the incident and admitted to the theft. He said he took it to help a friend who was about to get evicted from her home due to rent arrears.

He was sentenced to 11 months in prison at Peterborough Crown Court for theft and additional separate offences of burglary and breach of bail.

PC Malc Bush, who investigated, said: “Dodgson might have had honourable intentions with the cash, but this is not an excuse to steal from people who gave him a job and paid his wages. The money was not rightfully his.

“I hope this goes to show how seriously we take incidents of theft and we will track offenders down, even if they leave the county.”