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Tube machine fraudster gets six months
Kiran Randhawa23 Feb 2009
A POSTMAN who stole £13,000 from London Underground ticket machines using coins wrapped in aluminium foil has been jailed for six months.
Darren Dorsett, 31, and brother Martin, 19, from Hackney, caused hours of delays to commuters when they jammed machines with up to 30 foil-wrapped 10p pieces at a time.
A flaw in the system meant the machines would then dispense 50p coins when the thieves pressed the refund button.
Southwark crown court heard the brothers teamed up with Hazel Macdonald, 24, from Tottenham and Walehi Singh, 31, from Islington, to target stations across London for nine months.
The gang were finally caught on 8 August 2007, after they were seen covering coins in foil at a bus shelter near Snaresbrook Tube station in east London.
Dorsett was jailed for six months for his "central role" in the fraud.
His brother received a 12-month community order. Macdonald and Singh will be sentenced at a later date.
Reader views (3)
I think they should be punished by unwrapping each one of those coins and then polish them up again.
- Jennifer, London, 15/04/2009 13:16
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I wonder how long it took them to replace every single one of these machines in London.
- Serox, london, 24/02/2009 10:39
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wow a whole 6 months!!! And with time already served on remand, probably means he will be free immediatly! £13000 for a few weeks on remand sounds like a good job, and a real deterrent to others...NOT!!! Pathetic sentencing yet again, designed to do nothing! These criminals are laughing all the way to the bank - why not 3 years?
- Gary, amersham, 23/02/2009 15:21
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