A woman took a wallet containing cash and irreplaceable photographs of the 75 year old owner’s dead daughter rather than hand it in, a court has heard.
Carly Foster, 30, of Allison Avenue, admitted theft by finding of the wallet, together with the cash, bank cards, driving licence and photographs it contained.
Marie Stace, prosecuting, said pensioner, Mr Michael Bramley, went to the Tesco supermarket and took £200 in cash out of the ATM before going into the store to do his shopping.
She said he had put the money into his wallet but when he got inside he realised he had dropped his wallet and told the staff.
Ms Stace said staff were told a young woman had found the wallet and had said she was going to hand it to staff, but she did not do so.
She said the wallet also contained photographs of Mr Bramley’s daughter, who had died, and were irreplaceable.
She said police examined cctv images and Foster was seen to pick the wallet up by the revolving doors and make no attempt to hand it in.
In interview, Foster admitted to police that she had made no attempt to find the owner after she saw the cash in the wallet and had taken it back to her car before doing her shopping.
Ms Stace said Foster admitted keeping the cash and throwing everything else away, including the
photographs. Michelle Elvin, mitigating, said Foster voluntarily went to the police station after officers left a message
at her home.
“She feels she has let herself down as she had moved to give herself a new start,” she said.
After hearing that Foster was subject to a two year prison sentence suspended for two years, imposed i June last year by a crown court in London, Foster was sent for sentence at Lincoln Crown Court on a date
to be arranged.
