AN airline employee who took part in a scam to obtain audio equipment worth over £2,000 has been spared a prison sentence.

Hassan Green was working as a sales assistant in the Kidderminster branch of Halfords when he obtained credit for his friends by supplying bogus details, Worcester Crown Court heard.

Staff became suspicious, however, and alerted police who seized the goods which had been installed in a Fiat car by the defendant.

Green, formerly of Castle Road, Kidderminster, pleaded guilty to two counts of furnishing false information and two of theft.

He had since moved to Salford, Manchester, and was employed as an aircraft cabin steward.

The 21-year-old planned to become an airline pilot and had applied for training, said his barrister Brett Stevenson. His new employers had been informed of his crimes.

Recorder Gerald Barling QC said although Green had breached the trust of his former employers, he had no previous convictions and had acted out of character. He said the normal sentence would be jail but was confident Green would not come before the courts again. Green was ordered to carry out 120 hours of unpaid community work and pay £500 prosecution costs.

Prosecutor Sarah Clover said Green tried to process a credit arrangement with a finance company - linked to Halfords online - for a 17-year-old by altering his age and lying that he was self-employed when he was jobless.

When that application failed, he submitted details of another friend, who was aged 22. Items worth £1,499 were obtained and installed in the friend's Fiat.

Miss Clover said the plan was to use a credit card number in connection with the application and then claim it was lost so that payments for goods could not be met. Green then told another unemployed friend what he had done, before obtaining a credit agreement for him of £800.

False details included a bogus job in a Bewdley shop. More audio equipment worth £799 was obtained for the same car.

Mr Stevenson said Green first met the friends at a trade fair. They all had a passionate interest in sound systems. The defendant was vulnerable to peer pressure but had moved from his home town and embarked on a new career.

"He made a very foolish mistake and regrets it bitterly," said Mr Stevenson, "but he has promise for the future and has made strides to fulfil it."

The court heard that one friend was fined £400 by magistrates for his part in the con.

The case collapsed against the other two friends due to lack of evidence.