A PROLIFIC petrol pilferer stole fuel worth more than £200 in a bid to save cash so he could spend money on gambling.

John Humphreys, 28, made off without paying on ten different occasions from garages across north Essex and Suffolk between June and August.

He admitted the charges when he appeared at Colchester Magistrates’ Court on Monday.
Humphreys, who has a full-time job as a plasterer, was caught on CCTV in each of the station filling up his Vauxhall Astra with unleaded fuel before leaving without handing over any money to attendants.

On some occasions he tried to obscure his license plate with tape, but still left a partial index showing which meant police were able to track him down.

Kate Armstrong, mitigating for Humphreys said he wanted money for his gambling habit.

She said: “He is working full-time so you might ask why would he do this?

“He has got quite a bad gambling addiction that has only just come to light which is at the root of the problem.”

The court heard Humphreys, of Clayton Road, Ramsey, won £700 on a bet last year, and he had continued to try and chase big wins since then.

He had sought help from addiction charity Open Road, which had helped him when he was a teenager for a drug problem, but was told they could not support him for his gambling habit.

Humphreys stole from the BP in Main Road, Dovercourt, the Morrisons petrol station in Dovercourt, Lawford Service Station on Long Road, Total in Ardleigh, and garages in Bradwell and Bentley in Suffolk.

He had already paid back the £40 he owed to the BP but magistrates ordered him to give back the cash to the value of the petrol he had taken to the other companes which added up to £220.68.

He was also handed a 20 week prison sentence suspended for a year which magistrates said had been calculated to be two weeks for each offence, ordered to attend a rehabilitation programme, pay a £115 victim surcharge and £85 costs.

Humphreys was given a 12-month conditional discharge in November for being in an enclosed premises for an unlawful purpose after being found on the roof of the derelict Bernard Uniforms factory in Main Road, Harwich, but magistrates declined to act upon it.