The 'cold, calculating' grandad undone by glowing eBay reviews

A greedy factory worker stole £48,000 worth of stock from his employer to create his own black market "model shop" on eBay.

Granddad Robert Collister, 61, exploited his flexi-time hours to work at night, on his own, stuffing his rucksack with Airfix kits, toys, and wargames under the nose of his boss. For five years, Collister helped himself to a range of hobby products including model aircraft, space rockets, Dinky-type cars, model railway accessories and doll house parts to sell at cut prices on the auction website.

Oblivious to his crimes, unsuspecting buyers left rave reviews on his eBay page after discovering he was undercutting the prices of his employers - Javis Manufacturing Ltd in Stockport. Before Javis' managing director, Peter Bridge, was alerted to the pirate operation, Collister made a total of £66,000 from sales on his 'model seller' page.

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Inquiries revealed Collister had presided over 1,992 illicit transaction in stolen items worth a total of £48,327.94. A further 1,018 sales worth £18,000 were examined as suspicious but it could not be proved if they involved stolen items.

He was dismissed from his job and reported to police but subsequently obtained new employment, earning £24,000-a-year selling car parts at a Peugeot car dealership. This was without telling his current superiors about the criminal investigation.

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In a statement Mr Bridge, 69, who employs nine staff and who has worked at his small family run hobby manufacturing firm since 1971, said: ''After the thefts were discovered he wanted time to