Guildford crown Court yesterday heard how mugger Toby Williams, twenty-four, unemployed, had snatched the handbag of Barbara Walsh a sixty-five-year -old retired teacher,on Crowndale Road last june. Inside Williams had found not only cash, but also a cheque for five thousand pounds, made out to Mrs Walsh.
Williams, who pleaded guilty to charges of theft and fraud , told the court how discovered that he had all the correct identity documents to cash the cheque, the only problem being that he was not a sixty-five-year-old woman.
However, the ingenious Williams did not give up . Using the photograph on Mrs Walsh's driving license as guide , he dressed himself up as an elderly woman,and went to present the cheque at a local bank.
At first, all went according to plan: the bank clerk did not seem to suspect anything wrong.that was,not until she looked at the cheque