A lorry driver who helped steal £30,000 worth of coffee from a Banbury food firm has escaped a jail sentence so he can care for his young son, who was badly burned two years ago.

Raymond Tuckey, 26, of The Fairway, Banbury, pleaded guilty to theft along with Kraft Jacobs Suchard employee Carl Parsons, 22, of Long Itchington, Warwickshire.

Tony Engel, prosecuting, told a court that Tuckey, a driver with transport firm Exel Logistics, was recruited by Parsons, who worked as a stock controller.

Tuckey was paid £1,050 for his part in the coffee theft, of which all but £200 has been repaid to Kraft Jacobs Suchard, in Ruscote Avenue, Banbury.

John Butterfield, defending, said Tuckey had suffered a series of tragedies, including his mother leaving him when he was six, being physically abused by his father and then going bankrupt after having to work for his father, who did not always pay him.

Then, two years ago, his three-year-old son Nathan fell into a bath of scalding water, suffering 50 per cent burns to his body.

Nathan had to spend months in hospital and is now forced to wear a pressure suit almost constantly, as well as having cream rubbed into his wounds three times a day. A report from Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Aylesbury, where Nathan is treated, revealed that Tuckey's continuing devotion to his son was largely responsible for the progress the little boy had made since the tragic accident.

Parsons was jailed for 18 months and Barry Thomson, 32, of Long Itchington, for 15 months after he admitted undertaking to receive £9,000 worth of the stolen coffee.

But Judge James Pyke suspended Tuckey's 12-month prison sentence for two years.

He said: "It is obvious your son is dependent on your care, both physical and moral.

"Only a sentence of imprisonment can be justified but you are not going to prison today."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.