A VAN driver stole £77,000 of cakes and pastries by pretending he had delivered the goods to a Pershore supermarket, a court was told.

Delivery notes created by Paul Griffiths did not match the packs of food he actually unloaded at the Co-op store in King George's Lane.

Stephen Thomas, prosecuting at Worcester Crown Court, alleged Griffiths stole the goods and sold them on for cash, possibly at car boot sales.

When police searched his home they found £1,000 in a bedside drawer. Only £20 had been withdrawn from bank accounts held by Griffiths and wife Sheila during a 16-month period.

Mr Thomas said when the Co-op became suspicious about deliveries of Manor Bakeries' products by Griffiths, it carried out two stock checks.

A delivery note of September 29, 1999, showed 20 boxes of apple pies but only 12 boxes were found on shelves.

On October 2, the Co-op received its first delivery of mince pies for the festive season. Griffiths' delivery note showed 200 packs but the check revealed only 118 on the shelves.

The jury heard the procedure was for the defendant to restock shelves himself.

Griffiths, aged 51, denies 18 counts of theft between May 1999, and October 2000, and two of false accounting.

He was employed by the West Bromwich branch of Manor Bakeries for 18 months and delivered to the Pershore Co-op three times a week.

Mr Thomas said during his delivery period the store sold £57,000 of Griffiths' goods, but he recorded supplies as totalling £134,000.

"We aren't talking about a few packs of Mr Kipling cakes," he said. "It's a large quantity. About £77,000 of goods were taken by Griffiths."

Mr Thomas said cakes never went into the Co-op's warehouse but were delivered straight on to shelves. A Co-op employee would be given the credit note and shout out items which Griffiths would confirm were on a trolley.

"This enabled Griffiths not to deliver what he was saying he was delivering.

''He was saying there were goods on the trolley which weren't there," said Mr Thomas.

In the second Co-op check, the defendant's credit note also showed 48 packs of chocolate mini-rolls delivered. After he left, only 15 were counted on the shelves.

Mr Thomas ruled out petty pilfering and said the thefts were a huge undertaking.

Griffiths, of Ferndown Close, Bloxwich, Walsall, denied any wrong-doing and told police he received cash from other sources including rent from his children.

Gary Thompson, the Co-op manager at the time, said "very thorough" stock checks revealed the shortfalls in deliveries.

Stock put on to shelves by Griffiths was counted within minutes of him leaving the store.

The trial continues.