A delivery driver who was found with an "Aladdin's Cave" made up of £20,000 of unopened goods he had stolen has been ordered to pay back more than £1,000.
Eduard Zarioiu, 47, had been working as a courier for Hermes - since rebranded as Evri - when the company became concerned about an "unusually high number of parcels" which seemed to be going missing.
An investigation was launched and during a search of his home, in Churchill Road, Norwich, about £700 worth of goods belonging to Hermes were found, as well as more than 300 other items with a value of more than £19,000.
Zarioiu, who was handed a suspended prison sentence at Norwich Crown Court in June after admitting theft of packages from the firm between August and December 2020, was back in court for a Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) hearing.
Proceeds of crime refers to assets, funds and property gained through criminal activity and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has the power to confiscate these assets under the Act.
The hearing on Thursday (January 6) heard Zarioiu's benefit figure was £16,317 but his realisable assets - the amount he could pay back - was just £1,123.
Recorder John Hardy ordered the defendant to pay it back within two months or face two months in prison.
Zarioiu was caught after Hermes carried out a check on his vehicle following concerns about parcels which seemed to be going missing.
After the check, on December 18 2020, two items were found to be not scanned properly, making them "untraceable".
Ian James, prosecuting, said Zarioiu was "unable to provide an explanation" as to why the items were not scanned.
When asked if there were any others, he said he had a scooter, leading to a search of his Norwich home where £700 worth of items, including a coffee maker, vacuum cleaner, blender, a toaster and a fryer were found.
Mr James said it became apparent there was an "Aladdin's Cave" of "very, very many" other items which were unopened or unused, including 21 pairs of boxed Nike trainers.
Zarioiu was given an 18-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months and ordered to carry out 120 hours unpaid work.
He also admitted possessing criminal property between January 9, 2020 and December 19, 2020.
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