HANDYMAN STOLE GIRL’S SAVINGS

Locked up for card fraud from house he was working on:

AHANDYMAN who emptied a little girl’s savings account has been locked up. Adam Paul Phillip Anslow was cleared of stealing a bank card from a house he was working on, but was convicted of fraud by a jury following a trial at Caernarfon Crown Court.

The 35-year-old, of Betws, Cemaes Bay, was described as an “inherently and entirely dishonest man” by the judge.

Jailing him for eight months, Judge Huw Rees said: “This was a mean offence against a householder who gave you work and who trusted you.

“You used the card repeatedly and stole a little girl’s savings.”

During the two-day trial, the jury heard Anslow worked as a handyman and joiner and carried out a number of jobs at Andrew Hannay’s home in Holyhead.

He told the jury Mr Hannay had given him the bank card and verbally told him the PIN number to access the account to pay for materials.

But Mr Hannay said this was not the case, adding he had paid for the materials himself and had paid Anslow in cash for the work done.

Anslow made 14 withdrawals from various cash machines between June 11 and July 3 last year for amounts between £40 and £150. The total he withdrew amounted to £1,191.

The jury saw CCTV footage of Anslow making some of the cash withdrawals.

In some instances, he approached the machine with a coat or jumper over his head.

Asked to explain why he covered himself, he said he had had issues with abusing illegal drugs in the past and did not want any drug dealers seeing him.

Mr Hannay said he didn’t realise the money had gone from the account, which was a savings account for his daughter, until he visited the NatWest bank in Llangefni.

The jury took three hours to con- vict Anslow.

He had also faced a charge of stealing other items from the house, including a £4,700 Rolex watch, a Pandora bracelet, an iPad and about £180 cash, but was found not guilty of that charge.

In mitigation, Peter Gilmore, defending, accepted the custody threshold was crossed but urged the judge to consider suspending any jail term.

“He is still working and is ideally suitable for unpaid work,” he said.

“I would ask the court to consider the gap since his last conviction and a suspended sentence would allow him to compensate Mr Hannay.”

After the hearing, Mr Hannay said: “It’s a weight off my mind knowing that he’s found guilty of misusing the card and punished for it.

“I’m disappointed the other items, and especially the bracelet which is of great sentimental value, have not yet been found.”