A PASSPORT office worker was told he faced an “almost inevitable” jail sentence after he was convicted of stealing more than £4,700 from a safe.

John Thomas Reid had pleaded not guilty to removing the money, a cheque and credit card slips from the administration office safe at the Identity and Passport Service, in Durham City, on Saturday, July 24, last year.

But following a three-day trial at Durham Crown Court, a jury yesterday returned an unanimous verdict of guilty.

Recorder Toby Hedworth said: “This was a breach of trust by a public servant.

“Clearly, you understand that it is likely to be an immediate custodial sentence, given the circumstances of the offending.”

The jury was told Reid was one of several staff with access to the safe who were in the office between the money being placed in the safe at 4.35pm on Friday, July 23, and by early in the working day on July 26, when it was discovered missing.

Reid waited until he was alone at work before taking the cash from the safe at about 1.05pm, just before leaving the building for his lunch break, the court heard.

Martin Towers, prosecuting, told a previous hearing that, when police examined CCTV footage, several people could be seen going to the safe – but one visit by Reid aroused suspicion.

He said Reid opened the safe “somewhat gingerly” before “rummaging around”

and walking off with a box.

He then went to a bakers’ shop and to a bookmakers during his lunch hour.

Asked during a police interview why he seemed to open the door slowly, he said it was because the door often jammed.

Mr Reid told the court he was merely tidying the safe when he was observed on security camera footage and that he had left the office for lunch with a box from the safe in a “blond moment”.

Recorder Hedworth asked for a pre-sentence report to be prepared. He granted Reid bail “if for nothing else, to make appropriate arrangements and to get your life in order”.

Reid, 40, of Elm Road, Ferryhill, County Durham, was ordered to attend court on July 22 for sentence.