A COUPLE who stole a bank card from their victim on Colchester High Street used it for a spending spree at designer clothes stores across Essex before booking themselves into a hotel.
Oliver Bishop, 20, was with Jasmine Hart, 23, when the two approached Toby Cracknell and took his bank card and mobile phone.
Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court heard on Friday how the pair spent £2,500 in Colchester, Braintree, and Canvey Island when they bought products from Nike, Calvin Klein, and Hugo Boss stores in June last year.
The pair then booked a room at a hotel and were later arrested when officers tracked payments which had been made on the debit card.
Bishop, of Mortham Street, London, appeared before magistrates on a video link from HMP Wandsworth, and admitted one count each of theft and fraud.
Hart, of Southchurch Road, Southend, attended court in-person and admitted the same charges.
Coral Fitzgerald, mitigating for Bishop, said the defendant was 18 at the time and had recently been made homeless having previously been raised in the care system.
She said: “At the time of these offences he was homeless.
“This was an opportunistic offence – he saw the opportunity, and he took it.”
She continued: “I think he is someone who has fallen through the net of the care system, ended up with nothing, and then made some really bad decisions as a consequence.”
Elliot Moulster, mitigating for Hart, said the defendant was also homeless at the time and had been influenced by Bishop.
He said: “She was rather young and vulnerable, was effectively homeless, living on the streets, and it was the co-defendant who was a driving force and significant influence on this defendant becoming involved.
“The co-defendant was using the card and making the bookings.
“She admits she was present but not the driving force behind this whatsoever.”
Bishop was jailed for 17 weeks.
He must also pay his victim £1,250 in compensation on his release.
Hart’s sentence was adjourned so a pre-sentence report can be prepared.
It was added her childcare commitments for her six-year-old and two-month-old will need to be considered before any unpaid work is ordered.
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