A NORTH Yorkshire man who abused his position at an engineering firm has been ordered to repay tens of thousands of pounds at a confiscation hearing.

A judge at York Crown Court ordered John Birdsall, 29, to pay back more than £42,000 after he was convicted earlier this year of fraud by abuse of position.

Birdsall, of Heathcliff Gardens, Scarborough, was given a two-year conditional discharge when he was sentenced in May 2011, after pleading guilty to using machinery at an engineering firm, where he was employed, to make shower fittings and other components which he later sold on eBay.

The court heard he had been running a lucrative sideline business and had netted £42,054 from his online sales. The judge issued a confiscation order under the Proceeds of Crime Act.