A TOP hairdresser has been jailed for 18 months for stealing almost a thousand pairs of hair straighteners from an award-winning Edinburgh salon and selling them on eBay.
Mark McMorrine, 37, took the GHD hair irons from the Charlie Miller Hairdressing salon he managed in the Ocean Terminal shopping centre then made £62,000 by selling the stolen items online.
McMorrine admitted selling irons and hairdressing product
s on the internet auction site but said he had bought them from another source.
But he failed to show any evidence of a legitimate supplier, and a jury found him guilty of theft and fraud after a three-week trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last month.
Today, defence counsel Mark Strachan said McMorrine was willing to do community service as a punishment and pay a fine.
But Sheriff Derrick McIntyre said he had broken his employer's trust so severely that a prison sentence was unavoidable.
"You have been convicted of theft and fraud to the value of over £62,000," said the sheriff.
"The time span involved was almost two years and the offences took place whilst you were a trusted and valued employee at Charlie Miller in Edinburgh.
"Therefore, particularly in respect of the breach of trust, I have come to the view that such is the nature of the charges and the circumstances surrounding the offences, there has to be a custodial sentence."
The Crown is in the process of trying to recover some of the money he made under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
McMorrine had worked for the firm for 13 years when he stole the top-of-the-range irons – which sell for up to £140 in shops – from the Ocean Terminal salon between December 2004 and September 2006.
A key employee, he was tipped to be a future partner in the family-run business which was founded by hairdresser Charlie Miller in 1965 and now operates five salons.
But, in September 2006, accountants noticed thousands of pounds of stock was missing from the books and the Miller family called in a private investigator.
McMorrine initially pointed the finger at two other salon workers, and one was tailed by investigators for two weeks before being cleared. The other was suspended then later reinstated.
But suspicion fell on McMorrine, who was known as Steven to his colleagues, when he was seen on CCTV entering the salon on his day off and leaving with three boxes of straighteners.
His scam began to unravel when investigators, suspecting the stolen goods were being sold on eBay, checked the site and found two accounts with names matching the private registration plates on his car and motorbike.
McMorrine, of School Green, Lasswade, was suspended then later resigned.
When questioned by police, McMorrine claimed he had bought the irons from other eBay users for just £45 then sold them on for profit.
But, despite his claims, McMorrine was unable to produce any evidence of a legitimate supplier, and records from eBay showed he made over 946 sales but no purchases.
During the trial, it was alleged the company had a "chaotic" stock system and had lost track of what stock they owned.
Mr Strachan said McMorrine spends most of his free time with his 14-year-old son and continued to deny the offences.
