A DESPERATE dad says he tried to sell a stolen shed in order to buy food for his family.

Edward Fletton admitted stealing the £774 shed from his employers at the Shed Centre in Marks Tey and trying to sell it on at a cut price.

Speaking after the hearing, the 23-year-old dad said he knew his actions were “100 per cent wrong” but he said he had no other way of feeding his family.

He told the Gazette before the theft and fraud, he was forced to take four weeks off work after contracting a parasite in his stomach.

During that time, he received £88-a-week in statutory sick pay which was not enough to feed his family and keep a roof over their heads.

Fletton, who has a partner, a one-year-old son and a six-year-old stepson, added: “When I went back to work I tried to get an advance on my wages. I had two children and a partner - how were we supposed to live?

“Someone had asked me before about a shed and I was going to use my employee discount so, to be honest, I saw an opportunity to make some money and I took it.

“It was 100 per cent wrong, I know that, but I did what I did to try to put food on plates.”

Fletton, of Parkeston Road, Dovercourt, admitted theft by employee and fraud by false representation when he appeared at Colchester Magistrates’ Court.

Magistrates ordered him to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work and he must also pay £505 in compensation to the people who he tried to sell the shed to. He had already paid the couple £100.

Fletton, who was caught taking the shed on the company’s CCTV, lost his job over the incident but has now found work.

A spokesman for the Shed Centre added: “As far as we’re concerned he has done wrong and he has been punished. We will on move on from here.”