A former lecturer has been jailed for stealing £70,000 worth of camera equipment from a university.

William Howe, 56, formed an "elaborate series of lies" to swipe the items from Canterbury Christ Church and use them to obtain a loan as well as pawning some for cash.

He informed the university he was using the stolen Arri camera gear for various projects during the spring of 2017, but did not sign it out as required.

Howe, who spent 19 years at CCU, was previously found guilty in September last year of defrauding the Canterbury Street Pastors of more than £16,000, bringing the charity to its knees.

He was given a suspended sentence of 18 months as a result.

Now, the former senior lecturer of media, art and design has been convicted again - this time for stealing university equipment.

In July 2017, he used the expensive gear to secure himself a loan of £8,500, using fraudulent proof of ownership documents.

However he never paid back the loan, which meant the equipment was sold on by the loan company.

Requests from students to use the gadgets were declined between October 2017 and June 2018 as it wasn’t available.

When staff contacted Howe, asking him to return the equipment, he claimed the camera had been damaged and sent back to the manufacturer in Germany for repair.

But inquiries revealed the camera had never been sent for repairs and was instead registered with new owners.

An audit was carried out, identifying that more equipment had gone missing. Evidence was then found when clearing Howe's former office that some of it had been pawned.

'This was an elaborate series of lies given by Howe, who was in a position of trust...'

Pleading guilty to the substantial workplace theft, Howe, formerly of Pound Lane, Canterbury, was jailed for 22 months.

He has also been ordered to pay £5,000 towards his former employers, to cover the cost of insurance excess paid for the stolen equipment.

Inspector Guy Thompson says the former lecturer abused his position of trust.

"We work closely with the universities here in Canterbury to ensure the safety and security of students," he said.

"This was an elaborate series of lies given by Howe, who was in a position of trust.

"Fortunately the loss was recovered through insurance and I am pleased that Howe will have to pay back the excess as he should be held to account for his dishonesty."

Having left Canterbury, Howe's curent address is in Rodmell, in East Sussex.

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