Man stole from Blackpool hotel safe to pay debt

A court heard Jonathan Chapman was told by a man he was in debt to that he would get his head kicked in if he did not pay up, so he stole £1,534 from the Royal Seabank Hotel on the Promenade.

Chapman, 28, of Pleasant Street, North Shore, pleaded guilty to theft from an employer.

He had a previous conviction for stealing cash from a takeaway in the resort he worked at last year.

Chapman was sentenced to an 18-month community order with 300 hours’ unpaid work, and ordered to pay £1,534 compensation by Blackpool magistrates.

Prosecuting, Martine Connah, said the general manager at the Royal Seabank Hotel saw money was missing from a safe on July 30.

Chapman had worked as a night porter at the hotel for a few weeks. The hotel CCTV was checked and it showed him coming into the hotel on his night off the day the money went missing.

Howard Green, defending, said Chapman committed it because he was desperate for money. He had not emptied the safe but taken only what he needed. He had lost his job and also his accommodation after it was searched by police.