Desperation caused a teenager to break his family's trust and steal cheques from his grandmother, a court has heard.
Daniel Catchpole, of Totlands Drive, Clacton, admitted forging cheques worth a total of £780 after stealing them from his grandmother's bedside cabinet.
The 19-year-old was unrepresented when he appeared before Colchester magistrates yesterday.
He told the court: "It was mere stupidity really and I was desperate."
When asked what affect the incident had upon him, he replied: "I have lost the trust of a lot of people, obviously, and that is all I can say really."
Catchpole stole and forged the cheques on July 24 and August 16, but deliberately tried to conceal the theft, said Annette Redgrave, prosecuting.
She said: "He tried to prevent immediate detection by stealing the cheques from a new cheque book which his grandmother had not started using, and he didn't take the first, but from the middle so it was not immediately obvious."
The court heard Catchpole stole four cheques from his grandmother's bedside cabinet to pay back debts to his girlfriend.
Two were made out for a total of £500, one for £280 and the other was not used.
Ms Redgrave said the grandmother discovered the theft while checking her bank statements.
Magistrates sentenced Catchpole to an 80 hours work in the community and ordered him to pay £780 compensation to Abbey National.
Published Tuesday October 15, 2002
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