Judge: I had no idea benefits claimants liked champagne

A JUDGE told a shoplifter who had stolen alcohol that he didn’t realise people who were on benefits drank champagne.

Nichola Vout, a mother of two, was caught on CCTV putting the champagne in her bag, claiming a delay in her benefit payments drove her to theft. However, Judge Gary Garland didn’t accept the excuse, adding: “It seems to me you have gone on a thieving mission and been caught.”

The 33-year-old stole the £25 bottle from a Co-op in Stockton on Aug 3, Teesside magistrates’ court heard. Since the theft, she’s been barred from every Co-op in Cleveland.

In mitigation, it was claimed Vout’s long-term relationship ended in ugly circumstances and she had faced issues waiting for her benefits claim to start.

Judge Garland said: “I didn’t know that people who were on benefits were into champagne.” He handed Vout a 12-month conditional discharge after she admitted shop theft. Ordering her to pay £85 costs and a £20 charge, he added: “That’s £105 for a bottle of champagne you didn’t even drink. It has been an expensive afternoon out.”

Judge Garland previously caught out a couple when he saw them speeding on mobility scooters during a court break.

Former Royal Artillery gunner David Hughes, 58, and his partner Wendy ran up a bill of over £10,000 by refusing to pay British Gas for over a decade.

Hughes told Judge Garland that he was registered blind and could not read documents sent to him. Then his partner collapsed in court with apparent breathing problems. But Judge Garland revealed that during a break in proceedings at Blackpool magistrates’ court he saw them. “They were speeding along the footpath in their electric buggies, both of them smoking cigarettes,” he told the court.