Disabled man made a target
WOMAN POCKETED BANK CARD BEFORE £900 SPENT BY OTHERS
THREE people have been sentenced after approaching a disabled man in the street, stealing his bank card and using it to buy more than £900 of goods.
The vulnerable man was taken back to a house where he was given drugs and assaulted during the ordeal in June 2016. Newcastle Crown Court heard the man, who has cerebral palsy and learning difficulties, was walking down a street in Gateshead when Sara Forsyth and Sarah Adams approached him.
Prosecutor Kevin Wardlaw said Forsyth “initiated the conversation and offered to have sex with him” and they went to a nearby off-licence to buy alcohol before going to her home.
Before going to the shop, Mr Wardlaw said they went to a cash machine and the victim put his card into the machine and entered his PIN.
He told the court: “Forsyth reached across and entered the amount to be withdrawn – £250 – and removed the cash and card from the ATM.”
He said she then put it in her pocket. At Forsyth’s house, the court heard they were joined by Adams’ then partner Paul Noble and an unidentified male.
Mr Wardlaw said: “The group took drugs. [The victim] felt uncomfortable and pressured into joining in.
“He had no experience of drug-taking but felt compelled to go along. From the description of the drug as a brown powder it appears it was heroin.”
The court heard that at some point the victim was assaulted by one of the men, and his bank card was never returned to him. Mr Wardlaw said after Noble,
Adams and the other male left the address, taking the bank card with them, Forsyth suggested they go to cancel the card because she “knew what they were like”
He said: “While standing at the bus stop, Forsyth asked him to withdraw £100 to give to her so she could buy more drugs. The card was cancelled but not before it had been used by Adams and Noble to buy a variety of goods in the Newcastle area worth over £900 – including an iPhone, speakers, jewellery and a Playstation 4.”
Ellen Wright, representing Forsyth, said she had significant mental health difficulties, and was “disgusted with her actions”.
Fiona Lamb, representing Adams, said: “These offences were committed four years ago and she is a completely different person to the one she was. She has not committed another offence.”
Jamie Adams, representing Noble, said he had not offended since.
Forsyth, 44, now of Tathum Street, Sunderland, pleaded guilty to theft, and was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Adams, 30, of Wensley Close, Chesterle-Street, pleaded guilty to handling stolen goods and fraud and was sentenced to a 12-month community order with 100 hours of unpaid work.
Noble, 34, of Kempton Gardens, Teams, Gateshead, pleaded guilty to handling stolen goods and fraud and was sentenced to nine months in prison, suspended for 12 months, with 150 hours of unpaid work.
Forsyth and another defendant, Dean Ridley, admitted an unrelated charge of theft. Ridley, 37, of West View, Elswick, Newcastle, was handed a 12-month conditional discharge.