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Sunday, 23 January 2022

Cheshire Thief Loses His Driving Licence

A Cheshire man has been banned from the roads after stealing £500 from the seller of a television set.

Edward Stokes, 20, of Kettell Avenue, Crewe, admitted at charge of theft when he appeared at Chester Magistrates' Court via videolink on Friday, 21st January 2022.

Theft is an either way offence contrary to section 1 of the Theft Act 1968. The maximum penalty for theft is 7 years in custody. We have previously written an article on the legalities surrounding theft.

District Judge Nick Sanders heard that Stokes had responded to an advert placed on Facebook Marketplace by Chester man Callum Barlow.

Stokes got in touch with Mr Barlow to arrange the purchase of a 55-inch Hisense Smart TV. Giving the false name of "Sam Cox", Stokes agreed to pay £500 for the TV and arranged to collect it from Mr Barlow's home address on Wednesday, 17th February 2021.

On that day Stokes arrived in a Ford Transit with another man. Mr Barlow confirmed his banking details and Stokes purported to send the £500 payment by bank transfer. He showed Mr Barlow an image on his mobile phone that appeared to confirm that the funds had been transferred.

Mr Barlow had earlier obtained the mobile phone number of Stokes and checked that it worked, just in case there were any problems with the transaction.

Later on Mr Barlow noticed that the funds had not actually been received in his bank account. He sent two text messages to Stokes to chase up the payment, but he received no response.

A few days later, on 27th February 2021, Mr Barlow reported the matter to the police. A police officer successfully contacted "Sam Cox" by mobile phone. Investigations revealed Stokes' true identity and he was subsequently identified by Mr Barlow.

Stuart Flood, mitigating, highlighted that his client had entered a timely guilty plea. Mr Flood said that his client had since disposed of the TV set and did not know where it was.

DJ Sanders, sentencing, said: "It was a nasty thing to do. People like to trust other people when they put things on Facebook Marketplace, or eBay."

Stokes was sentenced to 12 month community order with 16 weeks' electronically monitored curfew requirement.

He was also ordered to pay £500 compensation to Mr Barlow.

Exercising the court's powers under section 163 of the Sentencing Act 2020, the Judge also imposed a 6 month driving disqualification.

Under this very useful (but rarely used) legislation the court can impose a driving disqualification on an offender convicted of any other offence.

Stokes was a man with no previous convictions, but this offence was particularly scheming and dishonest. There was also a degree of planning and attempts by Stokes to cover his tracks. There is little doubt DJ Sanders shares that opinion given the sentence imposed.

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