A 52-year-old former comic shop manager, who stole figurines and graphic novels from his employer after he wasn’t paid for overtime, has been handed a suspended prison sentence at the Isle of Wight Crown Court.
Robert Mead, of Castle Street in Ryde, appeared before Judge England, Assistant Advocate General, at the Isle of Wight Crown Court on Tuesday (24th February).
The 52-year-old had previously been found guilty at trial of 2 counts of theft by employee, between January 2016 and October 2024.
The total stolen by Mead was valued at between £2,000 and £3,000.
Prosecutor Tim Devlin told the court that at the time of the offending, Mead was employed by Newport-based comic shop ‘Heroes’.
The court heard how Mead’s offending behaviour began after he was asked to carry out evening work by his boss following the loss of another key staff member.
Despite working the out-of-hours events, the court heard how Mead – and his son – were not paid for their time and that Mead began taking stock as a way of compensating himself for that work. Mead would put items aside and then cancel the items off the stock sheet.
The relationship between Mead and his employer was further strained after potential redundancies at Heroes were mooted.
It wasn’t until 2024 that the owner of the business noticed anomalies within the stock records. Having compiled an inventory of what goods should have been accounted for, he contacted Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary.
As previously reported by Island Echo, officers attended addresses in Castle Street and Nelson Street in Ryde on the morning of 30th October 2024 and arrested Mead and a 24-year-old man as part of an ongoing investigation.
The 24-year-old was released without further action.
Despite admitting in interview that it was dishonest to take the items from his employer, Mead Senior made no such admissions when charges were put to him in court in Spring 2025.
Defending the 52-year-old, Oliver Hirsch told the court that Mead was a man of previous good character and that several people had written character references to that effect. He said that during his time at Heroes, Mead went ‘above and beyond’, helping to grow the business in its early years.
He also went on to say that any immediate prison sentence would not only affect Mead but also his family, namely his parents, for whom he is the sole carer.
Summarising, Judge England said that despite not being paid, Mead didn’t raise it with his employer and that he instead felt he was ‘morally entitled’ to take the items as payment. She added that his position as store manager allowed him to hide the trail of his deceit for some time.
Judge England handed Robert Mead an 8-month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months. He must also complete 100 hours of unpaid work and 10 rehabilitation activity days. Mead was also ordered to pay court costs of £1,000.
He could of said no at any time not to do any additional hours. But instead of talking it over with his boss, he intentionally took items and also covered any evidence of his thiefts. This is clearly his own fault and premeditated.
To correct & reply to Sam’s comment:
It stated in court Mr. Mead had been found guilty of stealing between 2016 to 2024, (So in fact this began over ten years ago).
It’s also a bit strange he did not disclose he was owed any money for doing the extra hours to the owner or anyone else until after he was eventually investigated by the Police & caught with the stolen goods.
He’s used the story about a dispute over money to try and worm out the thieving
Robert Mead said in court he never told his employer about any money owed at all beforehand and he’d been nicking all the stuff for like 6 years before he did any overtime at all.
This seems a bit unfair. Who is on his side for being ripped off wages for over time which he wasn’t paid?
In life the instigators of situations gets a raw deal.
If for example this gentleman was paid his dues
he more than likely would not have carried such
acts.
If only the law addressed the real issue what
caused this to happen!.
He got stricter punishment than persons did during
the PPE scandal, some people got away with millions
of pounds and nothing as ever happened to them and
it never will!
The court reporter stated that stock started to be ‘edited out’ of the shops computer system as far back as 2021, so was this going on before the dispute over hours even started or not.
Wow!! He’s got more punishment than most of the skanks that appear on here regularly!!
Very true. Life is unfair.
So an employer can diddle an employee of his wages
but when an employee diddles the employer that is a
crime.
2 Tier UK
Anything fraud or money get a harder sentence..
That is very true because it’s less for the authorities
to get their hands on.
If only we lived in a world where people wasn’t
ruled by money.
Taking parental protection to a whole new level.
‘morally entitled’ to take the items as payment
so, he is a thief then.
Mr Mead could have been asked to do the overtime but as the shop possibly was not bringing in enough money to pay, the shop owner could have given items instead of cash. He could have done this on many occasions previously to the point that it was normal practice. The owner also could have given stock away to friends for their birthdays etc. If he did he might not have put this through the accounts as he may not be very good at accountancy, which could be a reason why his business could or may have been in a bit of financial difficulty at the time. If this may be what happened then people should look into things a bit more before judging.
Mr Mead admited to stealing the goods in a recorded Police interview which was shown to the court, so in this particular case, it was definitely theft.
I’m sure the owner may of given things away from time to time, but you still can’t take things with out asking.
The dispute can’t be true if he never told his employer and he’d been nicking stuff for years before he did any overtime.
Shame to put trust a mate at work and find out they’ve been nicking from you all along