A crafty crook cashed in on Britain’s sky-high pet

A crafty crook cashed in on Britain’s sky-high petrol prices – by filling up his mates’ cars with a dodgy account card.

Lawrence Richards, 46, put almost pnds stlg 1,800 of fuel in pals’ motors in less than two months.

He paid for each fill-up with an account card stolen from his ex-employers.

And he then charged his friends half the asking price of the four-star, unleaded, and diesel – using the cash to pay off his drug debts.

Sneaky Richards even covered his tracks by using a false set of number plates bearing the account card’s registration.

But he was caught out after an eagle-eyed employee at his former company spotted that the card was still being used, even though the van it was registered to had been scrapped.

She contacted the garage where the account was held, and Richards was arrested the next time he pulled onto the forecourt.

Police found false plates stuck over the real numbers of the blue Metro he was driving.

Defending, Phillippa Mendell told Inner London Crown Court: ‘He was taking other people’s cars and putting the plates on.

‘Then he was filling up with petrol, taking the cars back, and charging the owners half the normal petrol price.

‘Numerous different cars were used.

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The court heard how Richards dreamed up the scam after being sacked from Eurofin Scientific in Camberwell, south London, in May this year.

He had kept hold of a vehicle account card for a nearby filling station, and decided to cash in on the anger over fuel prices by offering friends the half-price deal.

In less than two months, he visited the garage 45 times to fill up their cars and vans with pnds stlg 1,789 worth of petrol.

Prosecutor David Ashby said: ‘The police found that this defendant had been sticking the false number onto the existing number plates.

‘This way, the registration of each vehicle matched the number on the account card.

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Grey-haired Richards pleaded guilty to 14 charges of obtaining property by deception.

A further 31 offences were taken into consideration.

Miss Mendell said the former junkie had turned to crime to pay off his huge debts to a heroin dealer.

But he is now drug-free, and has been offered a new job elsewhere.

Judge Quentin Campbell said he would defer sentence to see if Richards can stay clean.

He also warned the defendant that he may be ordered to pay Eurofin Scientific compensation.

Richards, of Trust Walk, Peabody Hill Estate, Tulse Hill, south London, is due to be sentenced on May 11, 2001.

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