MAGISTRATES jailed a homeless man who admitted stealing almost £5,000 in cash from the house of a friend.Sean Mulloy, 38, of no fixed abode, had been staying with friends around Ipswich after moving to the town from Sudbury earlier in the year, South East Suffolk Magistrates Court heard.
MAGISTRATES jailed a homeless man who admitted stealing almost £5,000 in cash from the house of a friend.
Sean Mulloy, 38, of no fixed abode, had been staying with friends around Ipswich after moving to the town from Sudbury earlier in the year, South East Suffolk Magistrates Court heard.
On December 10, he was invited to stay with a friend at Shakespeare Road.
The friend, an employee of UK Poultry Limited, woke up the next morning to find that £4,870 takings from the previous days' business had vanished from the house, along with Mulloy.
He was found several days later by police in a pub in Ipswich, and after being arrested for theft he admitted the offence and said he still had the money apart from around £250.
Mulloy said he had spent the missing money on clothes, food, and rent on a room for two nights.
Prosecuting, Mark Bursell said: “He fully admitted the offence and said he had done it because he was desperate for money.
“He expressed remorse and accepts that he let his friend down.”
The court heard that there was no suggestion the money had been stolen to fund a drug or alcohol habit and that when he had been arrested in the pub he had been drinking coffee.
Mitigating, Ian Duckworth said: “He has no fixed abode and is finding this difficult.
“However he is not coming before this court on a regular basis.
“There is no rhyme or reason for what he did - he obviously just succumbed to temptation.”
Sentencing him to two weeks in prison, presiding magistrate Sally Westwood said she had no alternative due to the amount of money taken.
She said: “We have given credit for your guilty plea and previous good character.
“But you took this money from a long-standing friend and it was a large amount of money.”
Have you been a victim of crime? Call the Evening Star newsdesk on 01473 324788 or e-mail starnews@eveningstar.co.uk
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