Man confesses to card fraud

Wigan magistrates heard Luke Coleman used credit and debit cards to spend £90 at two BP garages and at a convenience store and a Co-op on Ormskirk Road in Pemberton on January 26.

Coleman, of Norley Hall Avenue, Norley, pleaded guilty to three charges of fraud but denied a charge of burglary from a house on Marina Drive in Pemberton and also pleaded not guilty to a charge of attempting to commit fraud.

Prosecuting, Katie Beattie said Coleman, 21, had stolen the cards he used and several other items, including two eternity rings, a phone and a handbag, from the address in the early hours of January 26.

Ms Beattie told the court the Crown Prosecution Service also alleges Coleman tried to pawn the two rings on January 27.

But defence solicitor Louise Barrow said Coleman had told police from the start of interviewing that he was not responsible for the burglary, saying he had simply found the cards on Tunstall Street and picked them up.

Ms Barrow said her client had immediately admitted the offences he had committee and was sorry for his behaviour in using the cards.

She said: “Right from the beginning he has admitted his wrongdoing and that what he did was stupid. He wishes he had not done it and knows he should have handed the cards in to the police. He in fact went beyond the police evidence at the time he was interviewed and admitted using the card several times.

“He is adamant he did not do the burglary and has been from the start.”

The case was sent to Liverpool Crown Court after the magistrates declined to deal separately with the fraud charges to which Coleman had pleaded guilty.

He was remanded in custody and will now appear at Liverpool Crown Court on March 10.