Father and son emptied £1,000 from pier machines — illegally

Terrence Robert Jeffrey (48), of Meadow Close, Dalton and Kieren Morton (20), of Wharf Road, Kilnhurst, both in Rotherham, admitted theft of an unknown amount of money when they appeared at Skegness Magistrates’ Court.

Mr Dan Pietryka, prosecuting, said that on three weekends in July, the two, together with Morton’s girlfriend, had gone to the town and taken money from machines on the pier but on the third occasion, security staff had become wise to what they were doing and had detained them.

He said no damage had been caused to the machines and Morton told police they had found the key to open the machines near the arcade and had decided to try it to see if it worked.

The men told police they had come on the train but it was discovered they had a car and a quantity of loose change was found in the boot.

Mr Pietryka said the exact amount of money stolen was not known but the pier owners estimated it was in the region of £988. 

He added that police had not counted up the amount of change they had found in the car.

Mr Beris Brickles, mitigating, said it had been an “opportunistic theft”.

He said they visited Skegness every two weeks as close members of the family lived there.

Mr Brickles said they had found the security key in the arcade and “rather stupidly” decided to see if it would work.

He said they had stolen cash on July 17 and again on July 24 but on the 31st it was obvious they were being watched, so they flushed the key down a toilet.

After hearing from the Probation Service, magistrates imposed 12-month community orders on both men with 150 hours of unpaid work.

They were also ordered to pay £165 each in costs and charges and the money found in their car was to be returned to the pier owners.