A MAN who used his employer's card to buy more than £1,200 worth of fuel has been granted an 'exceptional' opportunity to repay the sum without further punishment.

Nathan Wynne, of Caldecott Crescent in Whitchurch, appeared at Wrexham Magistrates Court on Tuesday afternoon.

The 34-year-old admitted one offence of theft by employee - in that on March 25 last year, at Holt Road Service Station in Wrexham, he stole fuel belonging to Ningbo Distribution.

Prosecutor Justin Espie told the court the offending had seen Wynne using his employer's fuel card to obtain fuel at their expense.

The amount of fuel stolen in that way was worth some £1,254.39.

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Wynne attended a voluntary interview when he was confronted by his employer and admitted the offence.

Mr Espie said there was an attempt to deal with the matter before it came to court but it had not been successful.

Wynne had no previous convictions.

David Matthews, defending, told the court his client had financially been under "extreme pressure" at the time.

"It's an unfortunate story," he said, "but he takes full responsibility.

"He was frank with interviewers and made a full admission."

Mr Matthews said his client had "every intention" of discharging compensation payments before the matter was brought to court, but that there had been a breakdown in communications.

"By the time he got the information as to how and where the compensation should be paid he'd lost his job," he continued.

"The new job he found did not pay anything like what he was earning as a HGV driver - but he's now a forklift driver."

Deputy District Judge Lee Davies told the defendant: "Normally, for an offence like this, you'd be looking at a starting point of a high level community order.

"That usually means many hours of unpaid work, having to see a probation officer and perhaps abiding by a curfew.

"But I'm not going to do that today.

"Somewhat exceptionally, because of the background to the case, I am going to prioritise the compensation payment."

As such, Wynne received a 12 month conditional discharge.

He must pay £1,254.39 compensation at a rate of £50 a week.

No costs or victim surcharge were ordered, as compensation took priority.