Student from Skegness who found debit card used it to buy lottery scratch cards

A Skegness student, who found a bank debit card outside college, used it to buy lottery scratch cards, a court has heard.
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News from the courts

Luke Silcock, 18, of Winchester Close, Winthorpe, admitted theft of the card and fraud by false representation, when he appeared before magistrates in Boston.

Prosecuting, Dan Pietryka said the offences came to light when the owner of the card, student Lucie Davies, was told by her bank that her card had been used to buy the scratch cards, which she knew she had not done.

Silcock told the police he had found the card in Lumley Avenue, outside the college, and he had used it on four separate occasions to buy National Lottery scratch cards at a newsagent in Lumley Road.

He told them he ‘did not know what was going on inside his head’.

Mitigating, Michael Alexander said that after Silcock had taken and used the card, he realised he had done something ‘really stupid’ and told his father, who rang the college offering to repay the money, but the offer was refused.

He said Silcock, who was said to suffer from ADHD and did not always process information correctly, was a student at the college and had been suspended pending the outcome of the court case.

The magistrates imposed a 12 month conditional discharge and ordered Silcock to pay compensation of £93 and £105 in costs and charges.