A DAD of two has been given a suspended sentence after admitting defrauding his former Newport employers.

Matthew Smith, 33, appeared at Cardiff Crown Court today after pleading guilty to a charge of fraud on the first day of his proposed trial at the start of this month.

Prosecutor Michael Hammett said Smith, from Maes-y-Garn Road in Oakdale, had finished his employment as a heating engineer with Newport firm Ivor Cook Ltd in 2011.

But two days after Christmas Day in 2013, Smith entered the Plumb Center in Pontllanfraith with an invoice for items to be collected on behalf of Ivor Cook Ltd to the tune of £1,412.06.

The court heard how Smith, now unemployed, convinced the worker to part with the items despite the invoice not recognising his initials.

Upon further examination of the invoice on January 15, 2014, the defendant was arrested and questioned. He initially denied fraud, but admitted the charge earlier this month – about 18 months after being arrested.

Mr Recorder Greg Bull QC said it was “unsatisfactory” that the case had taken so long to reach the courts, adding it was no fault of the defendant.

Sentencing Smith, he said: “This offence is akin to theft from an employer. It’s an abuse of trust.

“You used your knowledge of the company in a thoroughly dishonest scheme.

“I have to deal with you 18 months later – that is unsatisfactory. The delay is the main reason I’m not sending you to prison today.”

Mr Recorder Bull QC sentenced Smith to six months in prison but suspended it for 12 months.

He told the defendant to pay £500 in costs, as well as a £80 victim surcharge, but added: “I accept that your family is in poverty and to impose more money on you would have been crushing.”