A MAN who stole a lorry-load of fencing from the Stourport company he worked for has been warned he faces a prison sentence.

David Beasley, 45, pleaded guilty to taking a Mercedes tractor unit from Larch Lap on the Hartlebury trading estate without authority.

He also admitted at Worcester Crown Court stealing a quantity of the firm's fence posts worth nearly £2,000.

Beasley, of Bincomb Avenue, Sheldon, Birmingham, entered his pleas on the day he was due to face trial by jury.

Prosecutor Samantha Crabb told the court the police had evidence that a call made from Beasley's mobile phone on June 2 last year, the day the fencing went missing, was to a gardening centre.

Granting bail while a pre-sentence report is prepared, Judge Michael Mott told Beasley, a man of previous good character, he was "very likely" to be jailed for theft from an employer.

Beasley will be sentenced on November 23.