MUM OF THREE STEALS WAD OF CASH FROM BINGO HALL

It’s all happening over in Salford at the moment, or at least, it is at the local Gala bingo club where heavily pregnant women just recently stole £3,900 accumulated from gaming machines inside the hall. Diane Smith, 36, seized her opportunity when she saw the winning purses laid out across a chair unattended – as she is a self admitted gambling addict, she simply saw the opportunity to quite literally ‘cash in’ as being far too good to pass up.

The real kicker in this tale lies in the fact that she then later returned to the club to use the money she had STOLEN to carry on playing bingo! – this could be seen as impressively persistent, daring, or downright rude. No matter how you look at it though, it’s still absolutely memorable.

Diane pleaded guilty to charges of theft and producing cannabis, all of this whilst expecting her fourth child – she has been given a four month prison sentence and suspended from gala for a year as well as being forced to pay Gala £500 in compensation…very lenient under the circumstances considering the near £4000 purse she made away with.

The verdict came after the judge John Maxwell said “I simply think it would be unrealistic to try and make her pay the full amount.” Court costs also amounted to the sum of £350 making an already hefty fine substantially heavier – with these fines and the public awareness of her crime it’s highly likely that Diane will commit repeat offences of this nature, once is often more than enough to make people change their path.

Incriminating CCTV evidence is what ultimately caught Diane out, and sadly, this also lead police to her home where they discovered a mini cannabis farm containing 10 plants set up in her bedroom with all of the necessary equipment. Diane stated that the farm was there to alleviate her fathers symptoms and wasn’t at all created for profit, but sadly, in the eyes of the law, even though she was very convincing in her plea to try and convince spectators that she was only trying to help, these excuses are a dime a dozen when farms of this type are discovered and more often than not they are far from being true but serve as a very reasonable sounding get out clause.

This is quite possibly the only case of a theft where somebody has stolen money and actually gone back to the establishment they took it from to spend it! A very bold move, but also a costly one that we hope wont be repeated again any time soon – it’s never worth it, and sadly, it never pays in the end. Don’t do it kids.