A SUPERMARKET worker sabotaged computer barcodes because he was bitter about leaving his job, a jury was told yesterday.
Simon Birch, 28, altered details in the Safeway store's computer system to cause mayhem in stock and sales records after he had gone, it was claimed at Gloucester Crown Court.
Birch, of Matson, Gloucester, changed the records of seven best-selling products - from cornflakes to washing powder - said Don Tait, prosecuting. This meant that they were treated by the computer as products from the meat department instead of groceries, giving rise to discrepancies that made the management suspect large-scale theft, he said.
Mr Tait claimed that Birch made the changes on July 23, 1993, his last day at the store in Abbeydale, Gloucester. He alleged that Birch was resentful after the administration and clerical department, where he was a file maintenance clerk, was rationalised. If had led to him getting a new boss, Susan Oldfield, and there was a clash of personalities. "He left on July 24," he said. "It is the Crown case that, by that time, he was somewhat bitter towards his former employers. "We say that during his last week he was heard to say to a workmate, 'They have got on my nerves and now I will get on theirs". "He confided to a friend that he had altered something on the computer which would attribute the sale of certain products to the wrong department. He left, say the Crown, this little time-bomb ticking away."
A subsequent stock control check showed apparent losses from the grocery department. A later checkshowed even worse figures. Mr Tait said: "Safeway set up an internal security inquiry and their first reaction was that there must be large-scale theft. The firm was at a loss to understand the figures until February last year when checks indicated that Birch had made seven amendments to stock details between 1.31pm and 1.33pm on his last day at work. Six changes had been wiped out by subsequent price
alterations to the products.
But the price of cornflakes had not changed since Birch's departure and the computer showed that they were registered to meat rather than grocery. Birch was arrested but denied being responsible and claimed that two colleagues knew his password. He denies unauthorised modification of computer material, an offence under the Computer Misuse Act, 1990. Steven Wyeth, 29, the store manager, said the rogue barcodes caused a £15,000 stock discrepancy between August and December 1993. This was, however, only a computer figure and there had been no actual financial loss. Cross-examined by Roger Carne, defending, Mr Wyeth denied passwords were an open secret but accepted that, in 1993, staff were not warned to change them regularly.
