A bin man spent more than £13,000 of taxpayers' money dialling premium rate sex chat lines.
Derby Crown Court heard how Andrew Bourne racked up an astonishing bill of £13,449.12 on a phone which South Derbyshire District Council failed to cancel the contract on when it went missing.
The 37-year-old’s crimes were only discovered when someone realised the astronomical loss to the public and he was arrested.
In response, the council has said “additional safeguards have been put in place to prevent this happening again”.
Handing Bourne a 10-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, Judge Shaun Smith QC said: “What the council were doing not cancelling the phone contract I don’t know.
“But just because they were negligent does not mean you should have carried out this crime.”
Noel Philo, prosecuting, said the fraud took place between March and November 2019.
He said before then Bourne, of Castle Gresley, was part of a three-man crew of refuse collectors working in the district.
He said the council provides each crew with a works mobile but that went missing and the contract was not cancelled until November of last year when it was finally noticed there was a £14,000 bill attached to that number.
Mr Philo said: “It is a bit unfortunate that at the time the phone went missing South Derbyshire District Council did not not terminate the contract but they didn’t.
“Mr Bourne was suspended in March 2019 for reasons quite unconnected with this case.
“As a result his own mobile was taken from him and he was provided with a pay-as-you-go phone but when it ran out he did not top it up.
“Instead he realised where the missing council phone was and started sing it.
“In November 2019 the council realised there was a £14,000 bill on it and subsequently it was discovered this defendant had spent £13,449.12 on premium rate sex chat lines.
“It is unfortunate no-one noticed before.”
Bourne, of Bridge Street, pleaded guilty to one count of fraud by abuse of position.
He has no previous convictions of any kind.
Christopher Brewin, mitigating, said his client lives with his father and two uncles.
He was asked by Judge Smith: "What was he doing? What’s behind it all? He is 37 and has never been in trouble before and was clearly at a low ebb.”
Mr Brewin replied: “It was a sense of isolation.
“It was something that just snowballed out of control.”
Speaking after sentencing, a spokesman for South Derbyshire District Council said: “As soon as we were made aware of these incidents, a thorough investigation took place and additional safeguards have been put in place to prevent this from happening again.”
As part of the suspended sentence, Bourne must carry out 200 hours unpaid work.
He was also handed a curfew confining him to his home address from 7pm until 7am every evening for the next six months.
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