Cash collector cleared of taking part in £4,000 car park thefts
‘Queen of benefits’ and her estranged husband awaiting sentencing Costly holiday
A cash collector accused with the estranged husband of ‘Queen of benefits’ Cheryl Prudham of stealing money from car parks has been acquitted.
Jacob Underdown was alleged to have stolen more than £4,600 from car parks.
Maidstone Crown Court heard Mr Underdown and Robert Prudham were supposed to take all the money to Ashford Designer Outlet to be counted.
The charges related to money collected from Kent railway stations at Maidstone, Borough Green, Chatham, Rainham, Hildenborough, Longfield, Meopham, Sevenoaks and Orpington, as well as from Fremlin Walk shopping centre in Maidstone.
It was also alleged that cash was stolen from Bromley North, Eltham and Mottingham.
Prosecutor Oliver Doherty said the case was about abuse of trust of employees of Meteor Parking Ltd, and that the defendants were charged with emptying the parking machines.
The boxes should have been tamper-proof, but the system did not work, he said.
“Therefore, it was possible for people to remove money and the seal to remain in place,” he told a jury at Maidstone Crown Court.
Former welder Mr Underdown, of Warden Bay, Sheppey, denied three theft charges and was acquitted within 43 minutes of the jury retiring.
Robert Prudham, 32, of Milton Street, Maidstone, has admitted four theft charges and motherof-12 Cheryl Prudham, 34, now of Warrington, Cheshire, admitted handling stolen cash.
Mr Doherty said Mr Underdown, 28, and Robert Prudham made collections together.
“On one occasion there was £2,000 in coins,” he said. “That is a large amount of money in coins.
“The Crown say it would have been impossible for one party to have stolen that money, having taken it out of the cashbox, without the other party knowing.”
Mr Doherty said that £2,000 in £1 coins weighed a total of 19 kilograms.
Mr Underdown left the court sobbing following his acquittal.
The Prudhams will be sentenced on a date to be arranged.
Cheryl Prudham, who has lived in Gravesend and Teynham, was nicknamed the Queen of benefits after raking in more than £40,000 a year in benefits. When interviewed, Mr Underdown said he had worked with Prudham for just over a week but had no idea he had stolen the parking money.
“If he had done it, I didn’t know,” he said. “I ain’t done it. I wouldn’t do it. That’s my job at the end of the day. That’s my livelihood.”
He said Prudham spoke about a holiday he was going on with his family, and had £3,000 left to pay.
Within days of the cash going missing, Mr Underdown was alleged to have paid some of it into his bank account.
On February 14 2014, £830 was deposited. When police went to his home they found an envelope with his name on containing £56. On a dressing table in the spare room were “lots of piles of coins”.
There were £65.50 in 50p coins, £20 in 20p coins and £3.70 in 10p coins.