A TEENAGER stole a wallet containing £110 when a customer put it down momentarily in a Worcester sports store.

Sean Butler, 18, of Skyrrold Road, Malvern, pleaded guilty to stealing the wallet at JD Sports, in The Shambles, when he appeared at Worcester Magistrates Court on Saturday, December 24.

However he disputed the amount that was in the wallet, claiming it was only £40.

A Newton hearing – called when the particular facts of a case need working out – was going to take place, but when Butler appeared in court again on Thursday, December 29, he accepted the wallet had contained £110.

Sam Webley, prosecuting, said a customer had put his wallet down on a shelf after being distracted for a moment by his son and a staff member at about 4pm on Friday, December 23.

She said CCTV pictures showed Butler looking at the wallet before picking it up and taking it away. He returned to the store at 7.30pm the same day and handed the wallet in.

But although the victim’s cards and $40 were still in there, the other cash was gone.

Susie Duncan, defending, said Butler had received a conditional discharge earlier in December after stealing a pair of jeans from Peacocks in CrownGate shopping centre, Worcester.

He accepted that his guilty plea put him in breach of that discharge and also that he had issues that would need addressing.

“He tells me he would be very willing to work with the probation service,”

she said.

The case was adjourned until Thursday, January 19, for pre-sentencing reports to be compiled.

Butler was bailed but most not enter any retail premises within an agreed area of the city centre.