A MAN who stole more than £55,000 whilst working at a medicine firm will pay back less than half of the stolen funs.

William Marsh, 31, of Knights Close, Tiptree, stole more than £55,000 from customers of the Chinese medicine firm Phoenix Medical Ltd, Great Baddow, over 18 months whilst he was employed there.

Marsh would send official company emails to customers, claiming their payments were overdue and providing his personal bank account details instead of the company’s own.

The first offence was in July 2015. After he was discovered 18 months later, Marsh had stolen £49,851 from customers and also stole from the company’s medical stock, selling it on the auction website eBay at a total value of £5,722, totalling £55,623.

At Chelmsford Crown Court on Wednesday, Marsh was handed a two year prison sentence, suspended for two years, and was told to complete 200 hours of unpaid work.

He was also ordered to pay £20,000 compensation over a three year period.