An LFC fan who once won £100,000 on the lottery has narrowly avoided jail.
David Swatman, 43, from Manchester, won £100,000 on a scratchcard in 2018, and promised to use the money to follow his beloved Liverpool FC. But now the delivery driver has been spared jail after he was caught stealing trainers worth £15,000 from FootAsylum.
A court heard that while working on deliveries for the shoe company, he repeatedly swiped boxes of shoes he was ferrying between the company's north Wales depot to Manchester. The company began an investigation when it discovered on September 9, 2020, that there was a discrepancy in the number of boxes that were leaving the Broughton depot and the number arriving in Manchester, reported Manchester Evening News.
READ MORE: Abusive partner 'laughed incessantly' in court as woman described pain he caused her
Daniel Lister, prosecuting, told Manchester Crown Court the charge covered a series of thefts when Swatman, who was employed as a delivery driver, swiped boxes of trainers from his vehicle and handed them to a third party during runs from the company's depot in Broughton, north Wales, to its base in Manchester.
Five boxes and two bags full of trainers never arrived and a review of CCTV revealed there had been an 'unauthorised stop' on Bury Old Road while Swatman was at the wheel when the items were transferred into another vehicle, said Mr Lister. The company's investigation uncovered further 'unauthorised stops' on August 22 and September 2 when more boxes were handed over and placed in another vehicle.
Police arrested him and, when the defendant was interviewed, he admitted the thefts and estimated he had stolen around 22 boxes, each one containing trainers worth up to £1,000. The court heard the defendant had memorised an 'encryption lock' on the vehicles to carry out his crimes.
Swatman, now of Richmond Street in Keighley, admitted a single charge of theft covering stolen items worth £15,450 over the period between August and September 2020. The court was told Swatman had 22 sets of previous convictions covering 44 offences, including a drink drive offence said to have been committed shortly after the FootAsylum thefts.
Swatman was handed a 20 month jail sentence suspended for two years. He was also ordered to carry out five days of rehabilitation activity, to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work and pay £425 prosecution costs.
In 2018, it was widely reported that Swatman won £100,000 on a scratchcard and that he planned to use the money to follow his football team, Liverpool. He said at the time: "I’ve followed Liverpool all my life but because of my job, I often have to work weekends and can’t see them play as often as I would like to. Thanks to this win, I can treat not only myself but my friends as well.
"Who knows, I could even get tickets to the Champions League final in Kiev if Liverpool make it there!" Liverpool made it to the final but were beaten by Real Madrid.
Receive newsletters with the latest news, sport and what's on updates from the Liverpool ECHO by signing up here
READ NEXT:
Martin Lewis halts ITV Money Show Live to issue warning after being 'triggered' on air
Paddy McGuinness has two words for Amanda Holden as she strips down to underwear
A Place in the Sun couple split as they look to leave Merseyside
ITV viewers thrilled as 'best show ever' is returning to screens
