Andrew Lawson, 41, faked being stabbed to trick women into giving him cash.
He emptied a syringe of blood over his hand and reached a lone female in Darlington, County Durham, pretending he had been attacked by a gang of youths with a screwdriver.
He also told her his bike had been stolen and he needed money to reach home. A court heard Lawson targeted at least three women, two even believed his false story and gave him cash.
John Garside, prosecuting, said: ‘At around 10 pm, on February 17, a woman was walking to the car park at Feethams when she was approached by the defendant.
‘‘He was earlier caught on CCTV applying blood to his left hand using a syringe to give the appearance of being injured. He told her he needed money to get back home to Redcar.’’
On February 14, Lawson, of Wordsworth Road, Darlington again covered himself in blood and approached another woman in a Morrisons car park to ask for cash.
Mr. Garside said: ‘’He told her he had been stabbed in the hand and had been refused hospital treatment and needed £10($13) for a taxi home.’’
‘’She went to the cash point and withdrew £10 and gave it to him. He was not injured in any way. In a fairly frank disclosure, he has explained that he has an addiction to heroin and has been misusing the drug for quite a while. At the time of this incident, he had been claiming benefits.’’
‘’However, he had not received them for a number of weeks and needed to seek alternative methods so he could obtain the drugs that he required. ‘It is not a beautiful scenario but that is the reality of the situation.’’
‘‘He felt like this was a preferable alternative to going out stealing, this was essentially heightened begging. A situation clearly unpleasant for those people he targeted but this was not an outcome he expected.’’
Lawson has been sentenced to 18 weeks in custody suspended for 18 months and must return the cash he took from the victims. He must also finish 15 rehabilitation activity days.
Recommended Video
“Woman Attempts To Steal Packages From A Porch Then Slips And Falls”
[rumble video_id=v1pi7f domain_id=u7nb2]