A BUSINESS boss said he hopes the sentencing of a man who fraudulently stole more than £6,000 from a Witham company acts as a deterrent to similar con artists.

Sanjiv Bhatti, 43, admitted one charge of fraud by false representation relating to a series of work timesheets filed whilst he was on the books of recruitment firm Simcott Personnel Management Ltd.

Between December 2015 and January 2016 Bhatti admitted that he had filed the signed timesheets to the company. The signatures were later found to be fraudulent after the money had been paid to Bhatti.

In total the con artists was paid £6,703.70 for work that he had never completed.

Bhatti was sentenced to six months in jail, to be suspended for 18 months, and ordered to carry out 180 hours of unpaid work by a judge at Chelmsford Crown Court on August 3

Barry Lakin, business development manager for Simcott Personnel Management Ltd, said: “I am pleased that he has been sentenced and hopefully it is a deterrent for anyone who thinks it is ok to do something like this.

“Obviously it had an effect on the business because of the amount of money but it also has an effect on our day to day work because you want to trust people in these situations but sometimes you start to debate whether you can.

“Hopefully it is going to have an effect on his life long term as obviously it is not a good thing to have on your CV.”

Simcott Personnel Management provides recruitment, maintenance and customer care services to the construction industry in the United Kingdom.

The business is one of several businesses based in Atlantic Square, Witham.