Ex-Harrods IT worker pleads guilty to PC repair shop trip

A former Harrods IT worker has pleaded guilty to a charge under the Computer Misuse Act of trying to get a computer repair shop to take his company-issued laptop off the Harrods domain.

Pardeep Parmar, of Grove Road, Hitchin, Hertfordshire, in the UK, was accused by Crown prosecutor Marie Olo of having taken the laptop to a local computer repair shop in Hitchin and asking workers there to remove it from the domain of the posh London emporium.

Prosecutors said this amounts to the criminal offence of "causing a computer to perform a function to secure or enable unauthorised access to a program or data", contrary to sections 1(1) and (3) of the Computer Misuse Act 1990.

Defending the 30-year-old, Sundeep Pankhania of Marylebone solicitors' firm HP Gower said his client had done this to try and save some personal files on his company-issued laptop, including his National Insurance number, and wanted to get access to those.

Bearded Parmar, wearing a black open-necked shirt, a gold chain and a black jacket, appeared before Westminster Magistrates' Court this morning, confirming his name and address and entering his pleas to the two charges. The hearing took all morning.

The former Harrods worker also pleaded not guilty to stealing the Dell laptop from the Knightsbridge department store.

Nina Toller, chairwoman of the three-strong bench of magistrates, adjourned the case to the City of London Magistrates' Court for trial on October 4 at 10am. ®