A WOMAN who stole a sensitive piece of military hardware in the hope of selling it has been spared jail.

Holly Autumn Satya Schofield, of Upper Aston Hall Lane in Hawarden, had been working as a security guard at Qioptiq in St Asaph for just a few months before committing the offence, in November 2019.

The 40-year-old denied the offence of theft by employee but was found guilty after trial in July, of taking the Dragon Sniper 12 sight - which belonged to the Ministry of Defence and was worth £10,000.

Philip Clemo, prosecuting at Mold Crown Court on Friday, said the item was returned undamaged to Qioptiq following an amnesty.

But he said while there was no financial loss, there was potential reputational damage - as Qioptiq is a defence contractor for government agencies worldwide and would have been expected to secure and protect its hardware.

The item taken was licensed by the US, he said, and issued by the department of commerce.

In the event it hadn't been recovered, its loss would have to have been reported to the US authorities and the MOD, which would have resulted in further investigations and potentially affected the company's accreditation.

The court heard it could have been "fantastically worse" still if it had fallen into the hands of criminals or terrorists, who could have used it against the interests of the UK.

Judge Rhys Rowlands said it wasn't accepted the sight had been stolen out of an interest for photography, adding: "Anyone involved in photography knows - it's hard to see how this sight would be of any use. "She obviously stole it with a view to sell it.

"She wouldn't have realised the security ramifications - she wasn't interested in selling it to terrorist organisations but who knows where it would have gone.

"That's the risk."

Matthew Dunford, defending, said: "She has expressed to the probation officers that she is extremely sorry for her actions and she is sorry for wasting everyone's time. "She's now 40 and she has got some mental health issues over the years. "As far as her income in concerned, she has no savings and it doesn't appear to me that her financial position is strong at all. "It seems it is the opposite."

He reasoned that her actions had constituted a breach of 'some degree' of trust rather than a 'high degree' - describing her former role as a "relatively lowly paid security guard."

The court heard she has one previous conviction for an unrelated matter, but she does have cautions for shoplifting and a burglary which involved the theft of copper wiring from a business premises.

Judge Rowlands told her: "No doubt you realised how valuable the items were and temptation got the better of you.

"You took advantage of the fact you were expected to have access to all areas of the plant to steal."

The Judge said Schofield had used a temporary security pass to enter an area where a set of sights were left on a desk during testing, having known what parts of the site were covered by CCTV.

She took it home with her but "panicked" and abandoned her plan to sell it when the amnesty was offered, he said.

"You involved another individual to post it back to the factory so you were distanced from it - that failed and further enquiries led to your arrest."

Judge Rowlands handed her an 18 month custodial sentence for the theft, but suspended it for 18 months.

He ordered her to pay a £1,000 contribution to the prosecution costs, as well as a £149 victim surcharge.

Schofield was ordered to undertake 15 rehabilitation activity days and be subject to a two month electronically monitored curfew.

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