AN Argos manager who stole more than £12,000 worth of goods from the giant catalogue store company - then sold them on Ebay - has escaped jail with a suspended sentence.

Andrew Barlow, aged 32, of Kohima Drive, Norton, near Worcester, helped himself to iPods, mobile phones and computer consoles. He sold them online to meet the financial demands of his young family, a court heard.

Barlow, who managed the branch in High Street, Cheltenham, for two years, was given a nine-month suspended sentence, after a judge heard he had remortaged his home to repay the firm.

Prosecutor Derek Ryder told Gloucester Crown Court that Barlow stole 80 items from Argos over a period of six months, putting them up for sale on his Ebay account.

He was only caught when his deputy opened one of his letters and found a cheque for £128.99 for a PlayStation portable games console, along with a print-out from the online auction firm. "The deputy manager carried out a stock check and found one those machines was missing," Mr Ryder said.

"He visited Ebay and found several other electrical items belonging to Argos up for sale.

"The area profit protection manager made a test purchase and was sent a mobile phone. The identification number showed that it was bought by Argos," he added.

When first questioned, Barlow, who had worked for the company for five years, said that it was just coincidence'. But in a second interview he confessed.

Barlow pleaded guilty to five counts of theft and two counts of criminal property.

Giles Nelson, defending, said Barlow, a father of two, hatched the plot to ease the financial pressures of parenthood.