Sacked Croydon hacker spied on former colleagues' e-mails

An IT expert sacked for lying on his CV hacked into his company's computer system to spy on his former colleagues - and deleted vital information which led to the loss of jobs.

Julius Oladiran, 46, was dismissed from after his employers discovered his boasts of a master's degree, and top Government jobs were all lies.

Desperate to know what people were saying about him, the conman installed spyware on the office network to track e-mail gossip.

But he also deleted e-mails delegating work between colleagues, which meant the company lost a month's work on a project, which then collapsed, leading to the laying off of several workers.

Today, Oladarin of Tennyson Road, South Norwood, was given a three-month jail sentence suspended for two years after admitting making a false statement and unauthorised access to computer information.

He was also ordered to pay the company £3,200 compensation - including the wage they wasted on him.

Passing sentence the judge, Recorder Andrew Baillie, QC, said: "You must have known that the employer to which you were telling these lies was a small company which was likely to be badly affected by your actions."

Samantha Cohen, prosecuting, told Southwark Crown Court the hacker was exposed when a member of staff spotted his cursor moving around his screen apparently of its own free will.

He started work as a database developer on September 3, 2007, but the gaps in his knowledge quickly became apparent during the six month contract and he was asked to leave after just three weeks,

When the company withheld £400 of his wages they became locked in a dispute.

In 1989, Oladarin was jailed for six months after writing number of cheques he knew would bounce.