Taxi Driver Convicted of Stealing Passenger's Watch

A Tenby taxi driver has been convicted of theft after finding a passenger's watch and trying to sell it on eBay.

Mark Ian Powell, of Jameston, Tenby, admitted a single charge of theft by finding when he appeared at Haverfordwest Magistrates' Court on 2nd July 2019.

The court heard that Powell, 34, took over the taxi from another driver at the end of his shift. A £390 Clogau gold woman's watch was left in the back of the vehicle, having earlier fallen from the owner's wrist.

Vaughan Pritchard-Jones, prosecuting, said: "Instead of handing it in to control, as he should have done, he kept it and gave it to his wife.

"She did not like it so he tried to sell it to get some money."

The watch's owner spotted the advert for their property online and a family member contacted Powell to get his details, which were passed to the police.

Mr Pritchard-Jones said: "He handed it over to the police, but initially denied the theft. He said it was a complete coincidence that he was selling it and he had bought it for his wife.

"He was in a position of trust. When people get into a taxi, especially when drunk, they often leave things in taxis, and they should be returned."

Mike Kelleher, mitigating, said that Powell was of previous good character.

"Mr Powell found the watch at the end of his shift, any number of people could have lost it", Mr Kelleher said.

"He made a huge mistake and did something that he had never done before. The watch was returned so there is no loss."

Powell was sentenced to a 12-month community order with 150 hours unpaid work requirement. He was ordered to pay £85 victim surcharge and £85 towards prosecution costs.

As we said in our earlier theft article, the finder of any item of property is under a legal obligation to take reasonable steps to ascertain who the owner is and return the property to them. Powell failed to do that, even though the number of paying passengers in the back of his taxi that day would have been quite small.