A MAN who went on a shopping spree in Hereford after finding a stolen bank card in the street has been fined by magistrates.

Steven Thomas entered guilty pleas to one count of possessing a class B controlled drug and one count of fraud by false representation when he appeared before magistrates in Hereford in March.

Hereford Times:

Police had received a report of a burglary in which a wallet was stolen from a property in Hereford on July 8, prosecutor Eleanor Peart said.

A bank card that had been in the wallet had been used at Hereford’s Belmont Tesco, the supermarket’s petrol station, and at Brampton Stores in the early hours of that morning, the court heard.

CCTV footage revealed Thomas using the card and he was arrested, with some of the items he had bought seized by police.

He had spent a total of £239 in a number of transactions, with further attempted transactions refused, the court heard.

The possession charge came after police caught up with Thomas as he was driving in Hereford on July 13, Miss Peart said.

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Thomas, who has a previous conviction for cultivating cannabis, was found to have a cannabis bud in the car.

Emma Thorne, for Thomas, said that the 42-year-old had been out on his bike when he came across the bank card on the pavement and that the “opportunity presented itself”.

“He was just weeks away from his wedding, money was tight, and items needed to be bought,” Mrs Thorne said.

“He went to Tesco and bought items including pots and pans and then went to the filling station and to Brampton Stores.

“This was a 22-minute spree with a total loss of £239.”

Hereford Times:

In police interview, Thomas accepted he had committed the offence and that he should have handed the card in.

The court heard from probation that Thomas is currently subject to an order imposed in February last year.

Thomas, of Belmont Road, Hereford, was fined a total of £160 and ordered to pay prosecution costs of £135 and a £32 victim surcharge.