A PARAMEDIC who stole vital equipment from his own ambulance trust during the Covid pandemic has been given a suspended sentence and ordered to pay back the cash.

Rainer Morgan-Kavanaugh stole three pieces of equipment from the South Western Ambulance NHS Trust between July 2019 and September 2020. 

Plymouth Crown Court heard that another paramedic made test purchases from the defendant's eBay account for items stolen by him. 

Police later searched his home and found items in his garage. 

The stolen items were an ECG machine, a respiration rate monitor and oxygen cylinder and were valued at around £3,000.

Prosecutor Ian Graham said they were ‘key pieces of equipment’ taken during the Covid pandemic by a person with a high degree of responsibility.

Morgan-Kavanaugh, 36, of Mildmay Street, Plymouth, admitted theft but claimed he had taken the items after walking into a store at an ambulance station.

Morgan-Kavanaugh was a paramedic with no previous convictions and was jailed for two years suspended for two years.

He was ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work and pay £3000 compensation to the NHS.