A COUPLE who paid their mortgage by selling more than 700lb of silver bars stolen at his semi-conductor firm are being stripped of their £100,000 house, a court heard.

John Gormley, 34, and his wife Sarah, 31, also went on holiday and paid for a car after making about £160,000 selling the ingots to a company in the Midlands, Cardiff Crown Court heard.

He was jailed for 20 months after he admitted stealing around 270 15lb silver ingots used to make semi-conductors at International Rectifier LTD in Cardiff Road, Newport.

His wife, of Conway Road, Newport, received an eight-month suspended sentence after she admitted her part in the sale of the precious metal.

Yesterday [September 5], she appeared before Cardiff Judge David Wynn Morgan so their cash could be clawed back under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Judge Morgan ruled that their house, valued at up to £100,000, should be put on the market and sold, Cardiff Crown Court heard.

The car worth around £9,000 and her £960 savings will also be taken under the POCA order.

Newport Crown Court heard in May how the couple were arrested on January 14 after his bosses caught him acting suspiciously in a storage area at International Rectifier LTD.

They made around £160,300 selling 714lb of silver in three years, the court heard.

The pair both pleaded guilty to conceal, disguise, convert, transfer or remove criminal property and he admitted one further count of theft.

Crown prosecutor, Martyn Kelly, said yesterday their house had a top value of £100,000 though it was estimated to be sold for as little as £80,000.

The court heard he is currently serving his sentence and he did not appear before Cardiff Crown Court.

Judge Morgan confiscated their assets and ordered their house be sold within the next six months.