A Heathrow Airport check-in boss, who helped himself to a passenger’s £1,000 laptop, has dodged prison with a suspended sentence.
Suraj Pardeshi, 41, of Eastcote Lane, Harrow, North-West London was trapped by a tracking device within the Apple Mac computer, which led police officers to his address.
He pleaded guilty to stealing the laptop from a female passenger, who had just arrived from Malaysia, on February 15 and was sentenced to three months imprisonment, suspended for a year.
Isleworth Crown Court heard Indian-born Pardeshi, employed in airport customer service for thirteen years, had just finished his shift when he noticed the unattended laptop left on a trolley in Terminal Four.
Prosecutor Mr. Gavin Kirkpatrick said the victim only realised she had left it behind when she reached the airport car park and immediately reported it to police.
With the aid of its built-in tracker, officers visited the defendant’s address ten days later to retrieve the laptop, and found it inside his house.
Pardeshi (pictured) eventually confessed taking it and resigned from Cobalt Ground Solutions, where he was a team leader, responsible for thirteen check-in staff.
Financial and matrimonial pressures, plus the death of his mother in India, had contributed to Pardeshi’s stress levels and he was under probation at work, where he was putting in 50-60 hours overtime per month.
“In a moment of madness he gave into temptation,” Pardeshi’s lawyer Miss Laura Bayley told the court. “He was going to hand in the laptop, but because of all the paperwork involved took it home.”
Since his resignation the defendant has unsuccessfully applied for up to 100 jobs, but refuses to claim benefits for himself and his jobless wife, living on family loans.
“This is an extremely serious offence,” Judge Georgina Kent told Pardeshi. “Airport passengers are vulnerable and this was a high-value computer containing valuable information.”
Pardeshi was also ordered to complete 150 hours community service.
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