Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
£22k lost within hours
No hope for recoup of dealer’s profits
A FACTORY worker who w a s g i ve n a £22,0 0 0 r e d u n d a n c y p a y me n t blew every penny of it in just three hours of online gambling.
Mark Petticrew was spending more than £120 per minute as he tore his way through his payoff from the Michelin tyre plant in Dundee.
Prior to being made redundant in 2018, Petticrew had become addicted to online bookmaker sites and was spending all of his wages online.
He started to rack up heavy debts and turned to drug dealing which eventually led to him being jailed for 28 months last year.
Yesterday, Petticrew was back at Perth Sheriff Court to face a Proceeds of Crime hearing as prosecutors tried to claw back the profit he made from dealing.
However, depute fiscal Matthew Kerr asked for the confiscation claim – for £4,600 found i n Petticrew’s home – to be formally dropped. Sheriff William Wood confirmed the claim would be abandoned.
It is understood Petticrew did not seek the return of the cash found in his home and investigators simply found a further trail of bettingrelated debts in his name.
Petticrew revealed the extent of his gambling problem which culminated in the loss of his entire redundancy payment in the space of a single evening.
A source close to the case said: “He has no money at all now, just debts. The Crown were looking for his profits but anything he made was spent online and it’s all gone.
“It demonstrates how quickly your money can disappear online.”
Petticrew – who bragged about selling the best cocaine in Dundee – admitted dealing the drug and was sent to prison for 28 months.
He was caught doing £130 deals every day, including Christmas Day, over a 16-month period as he flooded Dundee with cocaine.
Solicitor Gary McIlravey, defending, said: “His drug and alcohol use and gambling spiralled out of control to the point where he was struggling financially and that caused him to turn to the supply of cocaine.
“He was running at a very low profit margin i ndeed. He has literally nothing to show for it.”