Assistant Manager in Formby Specsavers caught stealing from the till....

A Specsavers assistant manager who stole more than £1,100 by dipping into the till 20 times has been suspended for a year.

Andrew Uttley, 26, siphoned off the cash over a six month period while working at the company’s Formby branch.

He was caught out after an audit by Specsavers’ loss prevention unit revealed the thefts.

Opticians regulator, the General Optical Council (GOC), suspended remorseful Uttley, from Southport, for 12 months.

Committee chair Corinna Kershaw said: “The thefts amount to a serious departure from what is expected of an employee.

“It is expected that an employee in the registrant’s position would act in an honest and trustworthy manner.”

Uttley was training to be a qualified dispensing optician when he pocketed the cash, totalling £1,111, between May and November 2012.

He made full admissions to the thefts when confonted by bosses and expressed “sincere remorse”.

Uttley, who has repaid the cash, is now unable to undertake training in the UK as a dispensing optician.

Mrs Kershaw said: “The committee concluded in all the circumstances of this case that a temporary removal from the register for a period of 12 months would be sufficient.

“The committee in deciding upon this sanction had regard to the public interest; the registrant’s age at the time of his misconduct; his sincere remorse and the degree of insight he demonstrated in his evidence; the fact that all monies had been repaid to his employer; that the method of theft was not sophisticated; that he voluntarily informed the GOC of his wrong doing; and that he has been unable to register as fully qualified dispensing optician for the last two years.”