A telecommunications engineer who stole products from his employer and sold them on eBay has been convicted.

Keith McNichol was a self employed subcontractor working on behalf of BT when he siphoned off supplies over a 12-month period.

The 41-year-old took 40 wireless routers, cables and connectors worth more than £2,200 from the company's Tunbridge Wells depot and listed them on his partner's eBay account.

The communications giant came across the products, which are only supplied by BT, and contacted the police and the online auction site.

When officers arrived at McNichol's home in Grange Road, Strood, his partner said: "It's to do with him selling stuff from my account ain't it."

Just over £1,100 worth of products were recovered, with McNichol claiming they had thrown the rest away after failing to sell them.

McNichol was due to stand trial for fraud and theft at Maidstone Magistrates' Court on Friday but changed his pleas to guilty at the last minute.

The court heard how his employer at the time of the offence, MJ Quinn Integrated Services Ltd, had not been paying him in full.

McNichol, who now works for Sky, was struggling financially and took matters into his own hands.

He was sentenced to 180 hours unpaid work and must pay £125 costs, a £60 victim surcharge and £1,034 compensation.