A MAN went on a spending spree after stealing more than £27,000 from hole-in-the-wall cash machines.
Gerard Cameron — 23, unemployed and with a drug problem — plundered the staggering amount in two hours after he noticed there was no limit on the money he was given from his account.
Unable to believe his luck, he made a 93 withdrawals over 2 hours from 4 machines in his hometown of Cumbernauld, Lanarkshire. He stuffed the huge wad of £10 and £20 notes into a carrier bag and went on a four-month shopping blitz, living the life of a lottery winner.
Airdrie Sheriff Court was told yesterday that Cameron, who was on unemployment benefit, splashed out on a new car and impressed his girlfriend by taking her on a two-week holiday to Spain.
He bought expensive gold jewellery, computer games and drugs to feed his habit. Gerry Mayes, for Cameron, said that his client “thought he had won the lottery”.
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Cameron plundered the cash from four ATMs — at the Royal Bank of Scotland, Bank of Scotland, Lloyds TSB and Clydesdale — on October 5, 2003. It was four months before his playboy lifestyle came to an end. He was arrested after Royal Bank of Scotland security officials noticed the missing thousands during an audit — and called the police.
Cameron admitted stealing £27,343.93 and was jailed for 10 months. He is paying the bank back at £248 a month.
At that rate it will take more than nine years.