A FORMER team leader at Amazon has been jailed for his part in a scheme which saw him and a colleague steal £11,000 worth of goods from the firm's Dunfermline base.

Ruslan Artiomov and Maciej Golabek came up with a plan to steal electrical items putting them in a storage bin and later going back to retrieve them.

Team leader Artiomov, 26, had trained Golabek, 27, when he first started at Amazon and came up with the scheme after he learned his friend was in financial difficulty.

The pair appeared for sentencing at Dunfermline Sheriff Court on Wednesday after earlier admitting that on December 18 last year, while in course of their employment, they stole a quantity of electrical items.

Depute Fiscal Azrah Yousaf said a loss prevention officer had come across a storage bin containing boxes of electrical items when it was marked as being empty.

A camera was installed on the area and CCTV showed Golabek, of Robert Smith Court, Lumphinnans, and Artiomov, of Pollock Walk, Dunfermline, near the storage bin and placing items into it.

It later showed Golabek removing the bin from the area it had been in with a reach truck.

Police were contacted and searches of both men's homes were carried out.

Golabek, a Polish national, had a number of items in his home which had been seen being thrown into the bin for later collection.

When police went to the house of Artiomov, who is originally from Lithuania, they found a box containing electrical items including 57 smart boxes, 23 Garmin forerunners, 18 Samsung Evo hard drives and a Microsoft surface book.

Ms Yousaf said the value of the goods taken had been agreed at £11,000 and all the items were recovered.

Sheriff Charles Macnair said that background reports showed Artiomov had not agreed on that value as he thought the goods were worth around £18,000.

Artiomov's defence solicitor, Sarah Meehan, said her client had been in Scotland since 2013 and had been working for Amazon since October that year. His wife also worked at the warehouse and continued to do so.

Ms Meehan said Golabek had initially been trained by her client and they had become friends.

"Mr Golabek was having some financial difficulties and he proposed a way of stealing goods which would be shared between them," she told the court.

"His attitude at that time, which he appreciates is completely wrong, was that such actions would have very little impact on Amazon as it was such a big company.

"It was a breach of trust, given the position he was in and he doesn't seek to excuse his actions."

Golabek's defence solicitor, Elaine Buist, said at the time of the offence, he was had money problems as his brother, who used to share the household bills, had moved back to Poland.

His partner had two weeks previously given birth to their first child and his constant nightshift was impacting on his family life.

"The scam was suggested and Golabek unwisely entered into that," she said. "He is very apologetic for having become involved and it is not the sort of thing he ever saw himself becoming involved in."

Sheriff Macnair said the theft was a breach of trust by both men, however he said Artiomov's breach was much greater.

"You were in a superior position to your co-accused," he told him. "It was your idea and it seems to me that whilst you are both guilty, your guilt is very much more significant than the part of Mr Golabek.

"In relation to you, Artiomov, I do not consider that the seriousness of your breach of trust, taken together with the value of goods, can properly be reflected in a non custodial sentence."

He sentenced Artiomov to 135 days imprisonment while Golabek was placed on a community payback order requiring him to carry out 300 hours of unpaid work within nine months.