Convicted for theft from employer will it go to court to recover losses?

[Kingsdk]

About 3 years ago I was caught stealing stock from my employer b&q which totalled just over 10k. Quite rightly I lost my job and was convicted for theft from employer and received a 2 year suspended sentence. All that is behind me now moved on got new job etc. Definitely learnt a hard lesson.

Prior to the court case I was receiving letters from crs and at the time due to financial difficulties and losing my job I agreed to pay them £49 a month. I kept receiving letters saying the amount was not sufficient and needed to pay more. I kept ignoring the letters and continued with my payments of £49 which I have now been paying for 3 years. In May last year after ignoring countless letters and phone calls from crs I received a letter from a debt recovery manager who worked for Freeths LLP. I can't find the letter but I was told unless I pay the full amount within 15 days court proceedings would follow. I emailed back stating I am unable to pay the full amount and can only afford the payment I am currently making. I had a reply back thanking me for my letter and was told she was awaiting her clients instructions. Since then I have heard nothing from either crs or from the Freeths LLP, almost 7 months.

My question is is there a time limit between threatening court proceedings and actually going ahead with it? I'm forever worried that a letter will appear with a court date. I still can't afford to pay the money back and not currently in a position to increase my monthly payment. Just wondering what my legal position is with paying the monthly payments and is there a time frame when the debt can become invalid.

Thank you

[Amethyst]

Re: Convicted for theft from employer will it go to court to recover losses?

It sounds to me like CRS instructed Freeths LLP to send a 'scary' letter to encourage you to increase your payments, you replied to them and told them you were unable to and have continued making the payments, and it sounds like CRS have not asked Freeths to take it any further. There isn't a time limit as such but it must be reasonable and they now have tougher pre-action protocols to undertake before court action. You did the right thing in responding to Freeths and while CRS might try again at some point it seems they have accepted the £49 a month is all you can manage.

If your circumstances change you could look at increasing that.

But, the amount CRS are claiming you owe them - is this the £10k plus 'costs' of security/investigation etc ? Did you have any payment ordered by the court at all or just the suspended sentence and criminal record ? Any discussion with your employer about repayment, or did they recover the goods ?

You have paid under £2k so far and will be paying this for a long time to come.... so worth looking into whether you do actually have any legal requirement to be paying this money to CRS.

[Kingsdk]

Re: Convicted for theft from employer will it go to court to recover losses?

Thank you for the response the 10k includes the cost of investigation etc and no stock was recovered by them.

During the court case no payment order was made against me as I mentioned I was currently paying £49 a month to crs which seemed to satisfy the judge.

At the time of my dismissal I was told b&q would be recovering the money owed to them and crs responded pretty quickly after and well before my court case.

After 3 years and making regular payments I feel it's unlikely that b&q will take me to court I just don't want this hanging over me for years to come.

[warwick65]

Re: Convicted for theft from employer will it go to court to recover losses?

If no confiscation order at all was made following your conviction I wonder if you should get some legal advice about your obligations. Maybe [MENTION=39710]des8[/MENTION] could help although they are not a lawyer to my knowledge

Have you worked out when your conviction will be spent.
http://www.disclosurecalculator.org.uk

The above is a good tool. It is based on the sentence and not the length of time it was suspended

[Kingsdk]

Re: Convicted for theft from employer will it go to court to recover losses?

Thank you [MENTION=98117]warwick65[/MENTION] that link was very helpful. Its Saying my conviction will be spent in December this year! Will be great not having to mention it at interviews etc

[des8]

Re: Convicted for theft from employer will it go to court to recover losses?

As I see it, B&Q could initiate an action in the civil courts to recoup the loss you caused them.
However there really is no point in them doing that,(at least while you continue to keep up your agreed payments) as you would probably admit their claim and put forward a payment plan based on an I&E form. That could potentially reduce your payments, and so be of no benefit to them.
You would also be in a position to question their recovery costs, and possibly reduce any debt allegedly owed.

If they were to initiate court action IMO the new preaction protocol would have to be followed.

[Kingsdk]

Just an update.... I have been paying the £49 a month for over 5 years and not had any other letters.
Just curious to know. If I stopped making payment how likely would it be that b&q would initiate court action after 5 and a half years since being convicted?

[des8]

I suspect that if you stop paying you will receive chasing letters.
They certainly couldn't initiate a court claim without first telling you.

Did you ever get legal advice about your liability to pay this £10,000.?
Did you ever get a breakdown of how the amount was calculated?
It is questionable if you are liable for all their investigation and security costs

[Kingsdk]

just came accross this thread which I started some time ago. I am still making payments and guess have paid back approx 5k so far.
I never did get legal advice if I'm actually liable but I'm guessing since I've been making payments and got convicted I assumed that's enough for them to persue me. during the court case the judge said a proceeds of Crime hearing wouldn't be needed as I'd already started a payment plan with ukcrs.

1 question I have is if I stoped making payments now considering I have been making payments for over 9 years. can b&q still take it to court? isn't there a time limit where civil cases can't be made against someone.

still have another 9-10 years to go and £50 a month can be going towards my family needs now, so just curious if they can still take to court after this long period of time.

[des8]

As you have been making payments the limits set in the Limitation Act will not be reached for another 6 years, so yes B&Q could initiate a civil claim in the county court.

If I was in your position and am only paying back the capital sum I would just take comfort that every pound I pay now is, because of inflation, worth less than the original pound