FOUR men working for a parcel delivery company stole thousands of pounds of electrical equipment, a court heard.

Father-and-son James Waters and Peter Waters along with Leslie Main and Alan Main, also father-and-son, were working for the Business Group, in Billingham, on Teesside, at the time of the thefts.

Teesside Crown Court heard how the gang, who either worked as sorting staff or drivers, identified items such as mobile phones, laptops and camcorders from shipments to steal.

Police raided their homes and recovered £12,600 worth of stolen goods, said Ian Skelt, prosecuting.

However, the firm estimated that £65,000 worth of items had gone missing, including £32,000 worth of laptop computers.

Mr Skelt said that suspicions were aroused when during last year, a number of parcels went missing.

James Waters, 45, and Peter Waters, 19, of Christopher Walk, Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, and Leslie Main, 45, and Alan Main, 27, of Langdale Crescent, Grangetown, near Middlesbrough, each admitted a joint charge of conspiracy to steal.

They have all since been dismissed by their former employer, which had feared it would lose contracts as a result of the thefts.

Counsel for the four men said they had not profited from the scam and had, in the most part, simply wanted to surround themselves with expensive trappings.

Johnny Walker, for Leslie Main, said it was an ill-thought out and rather greedy enterprise.

Judge Peter Bowers, who said the older men had played the bigger part in the thefts, sentenced James Waters and Leslie Main to 18 months in jail each.

Peter Waters and Alan Main were each given 240 hours' community service.