An IT boffin at a Nottingham law firm stole iPhones and laptops to fuel a heavy gambling addiction.
Lewis Green, who was not legally represented, wrote an open letter to Nottingham Crown Court apologising for his thieving from Browne Jacobson LLP, Castle Meadow Road, Nottingham.
He fully accepted his actions were inexcusable.
And he offered his sincere apologises to those at Browne Jacobson - not only those he worked with - but all who had wider control of the firm.
Green, 34, of Leslie Avenue, Beeston, pleaded guilty to theft by employee when he appeared at Nottingham Magistrates' Court on December 10 last year.
His case was sent to the crown court where he was dealt with by Judge Julie Warburton, who heard how he came to steal ten laptops and 38 iPhones worth £23,252 from the company.
She imposed an eight-month prison sentence, suspended for 15 months, 150 hours of unpaid work, £340 costs to pay and a victim surcharge.
"Being a solicitor firm, the victim had to report this incident to the Solicitor Regulation Authority," explained Syeh Ahmed, prosecuting, on Thursday, February 3.
"The business used a software system to track its IT equipment," he added.
The items that were stolen were registered on a software programme - Apple Business Manager.
Once the theft was discovered, an investigation was launched by the employer concerning the limited number of people, including the defendant, who had access to this system.
Access was by a generic login which created some difficulty in identifying who the thief was.
Once it was established it was Green, an infrastructure engineer in the IT department, accessed the secure storage and removed the laptops and iPhones on April 4, he was asked to come in for an internal interview.
He denied knowledge and claimed he had not signed into the Apple Business Manager "for ages".
But when he was presented with the evidence, he did admit his guilt, and was invited to a voluntary police station interview, where he also admitted his wrongdoing.
He said it was due to a gambling addiction he was suffering from and the items had gone and could not be returned.
Green told the court he did not delete any records, they were amended.
The stolen items had to be deregistered, so they were decommissioned to be sold on, said the judge, so "you could actually take them. It was part and parcel of the offence".
The judge acknowledged it was out of character for him to behave in this way after a series of traumatic events over two years.
She said his gambling addiction became a "form of release" and "you were unable to stop it" and, as you put it, "hit the self-destruct button".
Green, who is now attending Gamblers Anonymous, said he wanted to reinforce his apologises again and: "I ask myself the question over and over again, 'why I went down that path?'
"I put it down to what are in my letters".
