A Ryanair flight attendant lost his job after taking a £500 camera that was left on a flight and listing it on eBay.
The victim, teacher Aaron Galloway, had arrived on a half-term city break to Prague when he left his SLR camera on his airline seat.
Ground crew phoned the flight attendants within minutes but cabin crew said there was no sign of the Nikon.
On his return to the UK, Aaron went on eBay to look for a replacement and saw his own camera for sale with 35 minutes left on the auction.
He told the Sun: "It was a three day auction starting the same day I lost my camera, and the item location was Stansted."
Fernando Miguel Andrade Viseu admitted taking the camera when challenged and pleaded guilty in court to the theft of the camera as well as stealing a Kindle from an unknown owner.
Magistrates in Chelmsford, Essex, ordered him to attend a drug rehabilitation programme for six months by the court on March 9 and pay £145 costs.
They also imposed a community order and ordered him to do 100 hours of unpaid work.
Galloway criticised the airline questioning how the camera could be taken without anyone knowing.
A spokesman for Ryanair said: "This person’s employment was immediately terminated once Crewlink became aware of these court proceedings."
