Yummy pub manager jailed for £19,000 theft
Yummy Pub Company was betrayed "in the most shocking of ways" after one of its former general managers stole £19,000 from a Kent pub.
Aron Sheridan, 33, of Landsdown Road, Canterbury, was jailed for eight months after he admitted taking the money while he was general manager of the Grove Ferry Inn in Upstreet, until the crime was uncovered and he was sacked in July last year.
Sheridan claimed he spent the money on decorating their home and on evenings out to cheer up his wife who had become depressed after the death of her mother, according to www.kentonline.co.uk.
His actions were discovered after the company carried out an audit. When he was confronted he admitted to "borrowing" the money and offered to hand back £6,000 if he could keep his job.
Defence counsel Paul Hogben said that Sheridan paid back the £6,000 immediately, together with his wages for that month of £1,580, and has repaid another £800 since then.
He has since been given a job at a restaurant in Canterbury where he has worked his way up to head chef.
Hogben asked for his sentence to be suspended so he could keep his £1,300-a-month job and repay Yummy Pubs at £300 a month.
But Judge Adele Williams told him: "In my judgement, this is way too serious a breach of trust in taking money from your employers."
In a blog post on its own website, Yummy Pubs co-founder Tim Foster said: "Aron was to be the guy we could trust, the perfect fit. He grew up just up the road, [his] mum and dad lived on the lane, [he's] recently married, [he was] head chef for a number of tip top places in and around Canterbury, born out of being an army cook, looking to learn front of house and dreamt of owning a share of the Grove with us; [it was] his childhood dream. Sound too good to be true? Yep.
"Theft always hurts. It's a symptom of the trade and handling cash; it always happens, whether it's dipping into tips that starts it or the people doing it feel hard done by. ‘I deserve a little more' they tell themselves, ‘I work hard for it, why shouldn't I?' or the odd drink after work, but £19,000 is just a little too much to ‘borrow' as we were told when he realised we had been onto him for a while."
Foster added: "Our processes, standards and measurable systems have taken a complete overhaul in the past six months. It's like Fort Yummy Knox in my company now and it's helping us to grow."
