‘Wife was struggling to cope with baby’

A DESPERATE family man stole £14,000 from a Tunbridge Wells garden centre in a misguided attempt to look after his ill wife and their children.

David Kirrage, 37, of Williams Way, Crowborough, was told he “came within an inch of being jailed” after he refunded himself the money over the course of a year as deputy manager at Wyevale Garden Centre on Eridge Road.

He said he stole the money to make up for taking time off work unpaid to care for his family.

Speaking frankly to the Courier this week, a remorseful Kirrage explained the circumstances that led to his crime.

“We had a newborn baby and I was needed at home,” he said.

“My wife was struggling to cope with severe postnatal depression and, while she had a support network and help from our GP, I had to come home from work.

“We have two children so it is quite an active day and it got too much for her. I was taking time off work and it was unpaid.”

He added: “In hindsight, I did have a choice – but at the time I thought I didn’t. No one forced me to do it.”

Kirrage, who now works seven days a week in three jobs to pay back the money he stole, said he realised what a mistake he had made.

“If there is a message to come out of this, it is not to do it,” he said.

“It is not worth putting the people you are trying to protect and help at risk. I could have gone to jail quite easily.”

Instead of a prison term, however, Kirrage was given a 12-month jail sentence which was suspended for 18 months.

He was also ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work by Recorder Michael Turner, who said: “This was a breach of trust. It involved a degree of planning. The fraud itself may not have been sophisticated. However, it was on a regular basis.

“And this offending would probably have continued if you had not been found out.”

He added: “If I pass an immediate custodial sentence, the effect on your family will be devastating. But you have come within an inch of this by your conduct.”

Kirrage began work at the centre, now Tunbridge Wells Garden Centre, in October 2008, where his senior position allowed him to authorise refunds in the absence of the store manager.

Prosecuting, Deepak Kapur told Maidstone Crown Court the fact that Kirrage processed refunds of more than £20,000 over a period of just one year raised suspicions.

When the matter was investigated it was revealed he had refunded amounts to his bank or taken the cash equivalent.

Kirrage told the Courier things were now looking up for his family after the stress of losing his job and the court case.

“A lot of the debt and the stress is starting to go away now as I reimburse the money,” he said.

“It is a struggle but we are getting there.”