Family faces £1,500 bill for stolen phone (From Falmouth Packet)
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Family faces £1,500 bill for stolen phone
9:07am Wednesday 15th February 2012 in News
A mobile phone stolen from a teenager in Truro was passed round a housing estate and used to make more than £1,500 worth of calls in four days, a court has heard.
Matthew Mellow, of Polruan Road, Malpas, appeared before Truro Crown Court last Friday after he admitted handing stolen goods.
The court was told that evidence showed 39 of the calls made on the phone were linked to 28-year-old Mellow.
Prosecutor Ian White said the 15-year-old who the phone was stolen from had been afraid to report the loss to her mother, who was the phone’s contract holder.
The mother now faced having to pay the bill because the mobile phone company Orange would not relent.
When told this, Judge Christopher Harvey Clark QC said: “It does seem grossly unfair that this girl should be liable for all of that expenditure.”
Mr White said that if the mother did not pay she would be pursued through the courts for a debt the family did not incur.
The judge imposed an eight-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months and ordered that Mellow must also comply with an electronically tagged curfew for the next 28 days.
Comments(11)
Claudius
says...
9:32am Wed 15 Feb 12
What's wrong with the pathetic criminal justice system in this country.
Sometimes i wish we had a sytem like Saudi.
StarDasher
says...
3:16pm Wed 15 Feb 12
The defendant was charged with handling stolen goods only, and was sentenced accordingly.
The phone owner could sue for restitution in the County Court. The burden of proof is so much lower, and the criminal conviction would be useful ammunition.
Claudius
says...
3:43pm Wed 15 Feb 12
Lord Barrington Forbes-Smythe
says...
9:58am Thu 16 Feb 12
If people are daft enough to give their kids contract phones, they can't really complain too much.
Another case of peer pressure/pester power, I suppose, where a particularly 'cool' phone is not available on PAYG.
Why does everyone out of nappies have to be contactable 24/7 anyway? I don't remember kids queueing up at phone boxes to call home when I was a kid in pre-mobile days, and we all seemed to manage alright without getting abducted, etc. The western world's gone on a mad binge generally and it's all going to have to stop, even if it takes the mother of all global recessions...
Claudius
says...
10:31am Thu 16 Feb 12
Lord Barrington Forbes-Smythe
says...
10:42am Thu 16 Feb 12
But seriously, no doubt the phone company will end up absorbing the loss and the parents won't have to pay in the end. I have nothing against these folk in particular: I was trying to lead on to a broader point about the consumer society, binge-drinking, the right for everyone to have everything now, etc. Society's gone a bit mad
Claudius
says...
11:05am Thu 16 Feb 12
I agree about the "consumer society" though.A little sad really, ive often written about it on my Ipad or laptop,although i did find it useful for sourcing my GPS,latest digital camera and phone.I used to have to rely on the yellow pages.
Lord Barrington Forbes-Smythe
says...
12:33pm Thu 16 Feb 12
Can't beat Yellow Pages though - just ask JR Hartley!
titanium
says...
3:59pm Thu 16 Feb 12
If it's lost or stolen, the cost is low.
Sorted !.
not here
says...
1:05pm Tue 21 Feb 12
it is not the providers problem,the owners problem or the boys problem -- again i say the fault is with the thief
PAY UP!
Claudius says...
9:19am Wed 15 Feb 12
What's wrong with the pathetic criminal justice system in this country.
Sometimes i wish we had a sytem like Saudi.