Man withdrew £500 from ATM after taking a wallet he picked up in supermarket

David Elliott, aged 47, of Carrickpolin Road, Corlough, Brookeborough, was handed a two-month jail sentence, suspended for 18 months, for stealing the wallet and dishonestly making a false representation by carrying out a transaction with the bankcard on August 4 last year.

Telling Elliott he should be “deeply ashamed of himself”, District Judge Francis Rafferty remarked that it was particularly mean in that the defendant himself had been a victim of a fraud and then he decides to inflict that misery on someone else.

He also ordered the defendant to pay £780 compensation to the victim.

The court heard that the elderly man had been in the supermarket in Fivemiletown and left his wallet on a fridge and Elliott was spotted on CCTV picking it up and leaving the premises with the wallet hidden under a packet of meat.

Prosecuting counsel said the wallet contained £80 in cash and a bankcard which was subsequently used at an ATM to withdraw £500.

The lawyer said following checks on CCTV of a vehicle, the police arrived at Elliott’s house. He initially denied taking the wallet, but later said he was going to give it back when police found £1,005 in his bedroom which he said he had to pay bills.

A defence lawyer said Elliott is a vulnerable man who was employed as an agricultural worker but gave this up to care for his parents, aged 92 and 84, and work long hours on the farm.

He said he was deeply ashamed of himself and finding out that the victim was a distant relative added to the shame.

The lawyer said the defendant did not have much money and described it as an “opportunistic theft” in a shop.

Judge Rafferty said it was disgraceful behaviour which passed the custodial threshold but he took into account his caring responsibilities.