'Easily led' Wigan teenager locked up for card fraud

A young serial offender is behind bars after admitting a string of crimes including multiple frauds involving buying items on stolen debit cards.
Wigan and Leigh Magistrates' CourtWigan and Leigh Magistrates' Court
Wigan and Leigh Magistrates' Court

Jordan Thompson, who appeared via video link from Forest Bank prison, was sentenced to 10 weeks’ custody by Wigan magistrates.

The 19-year-old pleaded guilty to six offences, four of them involving fraud and the other two being driven in a vehicle taken without consent and trespassing on the railway line.

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The court heard Thompson, who was listed as having no fixed address, carried out almost identical crimes in two consecutive months when he bought items from a McDonald’s and the Supreme Mini Market in Platt Bridge.

Steve Woodman, prosecuting, said he took a debit card taken from Elizabeth Webster on August 10 last year and spent £21.48 in the fast food eatery and £23.85 in the convenience store.

He then returned to the same two shops on September 3 with a debit card taken from Robert Gore, spending £14.31 and £58.28 on that occasion. Most of the fraudulent payments were made using contactless technology, the court heard.

On September 3 Thompson was also picked up in a Ford Galaxy which had been taken from Mr Gore’s driveway and was carried out the Ince area in it during the early hours of the morning, Mr Woodman said.

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CCTV footage of the fraudulent payments was examined and after officers repeatedly recognised Thompson he was arrested on September 25, making admissions about his spree of offending in interviews.

He was also in court for a separate incident on October 23 where British Transport Police officers spotted him chatting with friends on a gantry in the area where the West Coast Main Line crosses the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. They shouted at them to get down. The others were cautioned as they were juveniles but as Thompson was an adult he was arrested.

Defending, Melissa Fagan said Thompson was easily led by other people and had taken the stolen cards and used them without asking enough questions about where they had come from.

Thompson appeared in court from jail as Manchester magistrates had activated a suspended sentence in December. Justices gave him 10-week term for each of the fraud and riding in a stolen vehicle offences and set them to run concurrently with no separate punishment for the trespass. He must also pay a £150 victim’s surcharge within 28 days of leaving prison.

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