The extra detail is interesting. It's clear it was more than simply using the same slip over and over again but he made copies of it. Also I guess the 154 transactions in a two month period must have meant - and they say he was doing it several times a day - probably whilst on his police duties!
I find the Tesco comment disturbing, and I'm disturbed that the judge didn't seem to pick this up as in my view it's pivotal:
"Kay Clements, the operations manager for Tesco, told the court: “We knew about the situation at the trials stage . . . we have calculated the loss and it is not enough to warrant the investment of putting a reader in every machine.”
I'd very much like to see a judge say to Tesco "Well if you have calculated the loss and it is not enough to warrant the investment of putting a reader in every machine - then take the loss and stop wasting the court's and police's time until you are prepared to take the basic measures you are fully aware of to prevent the crime. The criminal justice system isn't there to save Tesco's irresponsible lack of investment in IT".
I absolutely agree - what this man did was wrong but we're talking about Clubcard points not gold bullion. So he exploited Tesco's considered decsion not to prevent this happening - big deal!