Boss who marched thieving employee to police station is charged with
false imprisonment.
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 4:27 PM on 27th November 2008
A boss who paraded an employee around the streets with a thief sign
around his neck before taking him to a police station has been charged
over the stunt.
But employer Simon Cremer is outraged at the charges as his employee
Mark Gilbert, who stole from him, only received a caution.
Self-confessed thief Mr Gilbert, 39, stole a cheque from the flooring
firm where he worked, wrote it out for £845 and cashed it for holiday
spending money.
But when his boss discovered the deception he and three other workers
bound Mr Gilbert's hands and marched him through a town centre to a
police station wearing a sign which said: 'THIEF I stole £845, am on my
way to police station'.
http://i.dailymail.
78-950_468x406.
Simon Cremer, right, has been charged with false imprisonment after
parading thieving employee Mark Gilbert through the streets
But the stunt backfired after Mr Gilbert, who was arrested for theft,
admitted the crime and was given a caution while Mr Cremer, and three
workers, have been charged with false imprisonment.
Mr Cremer from Little Maplestead, Essex, said: 'We have been charged
with false imprisonment. I'm pretty gutted to be honest, I can't believe
the police system.
'I cannot believe that someone can do that (steal money) and get away
with a caution and I've been charged with false imprisonment. I'm
shocked.'
Mr Cremer and three workers, who have not been named, answered bail at
Braintree Police Station in Essex, today hoping they too would received
cautions from police, and were stunned when they were charged.
The businessman who has run In-House Flooring for eight years said: 'We
were all extremely shocked and surprised, especially as the other party
had been let go with a caution.'
Mr Cremer, who has no previous criminal record, has been told to appear
at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court in December.
But he said he was told by legal advisers not to discuss whether or not
he planned to plead guilty.
Mr Gilbert, a father-of-three and grandfather-
Essex, claims he took the £845 as it was owned to him in wages and his
boss was too busy to write out a cheque. A claim Mr Gilbert vehemently
denied at the time.
'It's terrible. This is a guy who is a proven thief, he stole a cheque,
forged a signature and took money by deception, surely there's enough to
charge him there but no he's been let off with a caution.
'I will sue him, I not going to take this, if you steal from someone
it's criminal.'
Mr Gilbert said after his ordeal that he was planning to sue his former
boss for 'humiliation and upset' after being disowned by his family.
But he admitted that even he was surprised when his boss was arrested.
He said: 'They frogmarched me to the police station. I was so relieved.
They (police) took me round the back and said "You've got a bigger case
against them".
'I thought "hang on I'm the criminal here".
A spokeswoman for Essex Police said: 'Four men have been charged with
false imprisonment in connection with an incident in Witham on Friday,
September 26.
'A 44-year-old from Little Maplestead, a 23-year-old Witham and two men
aged 22 from Tolleshunt D'Arcy and Tiptree have been bailed to appear
before Chelmsford Magistrates' Court on December 10.
'A 39-year-old from Colchester has received a police caution in relation
to a complaint of theft made in relation to this incident.'
http://www.dailymai
employee-police-
caution.html
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Thursday, 27 November 2008
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