Aquarium fish thief could catch a jail break
Saturday 15th December 2012, 2:00PM GMT.
Guernsey Aquarium
BASS thief Matthew Clark will learn next month if he is to be spared a prison sentence after stealing the fish from the Aquarium and using it to claim the top prize in a fishing competition.
Clark, 29, of Flat 1, Les Ormes, Roland Road, St Sampson’s, changed his plea and admitted the burglary when he appeared in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday.
He had previously admitted a charge of making a false representation by entering 13lb 13oz fish in a Bailiwick Bass Club competition to win the first prize of £800.
Judge Philip Robey said it was possible that, after hearing the facts during the planned sentencing hearing, he would deal with the matter by way of a community service order.
Both offences were committed on 9 July.
After consultation with counsel and the defendant, a Probation Service representative advised the court that a social inquiry report would be beneficial.
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Cue a rerun of all the fish jokes!
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This is not the time or the plaice for such levity!
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It’s too good not to repeat
I wonder if he’ll be sentenced on Bass steal day
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I vote he be given hard labour, cleaning out crab pots and scrubbing decks on fishing boats for a year would be an effishient way to deal with him.
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Community service? Thats like saying “do as you please” to every moron in Guernsey. Theft, fraud and probably tresspassing all in one go. Never mind, carry on…
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£800 was the prize he was after. Sounds like a suitable fine
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Fraud is fraud but to use something he had already commited. Crime (stole) to do it is just priceless. He broke in somewhere to steal someone elses property and then lied about catching it and tried robbing 200 some odd anglers out of a prize. Like you say, the idiot did all that for a pathetic £800 because he knew whatever sentence would be pathetic.
Let him break in to your house and steal your property and then say “well, the prize was only £800 so im not that bothered”
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LJ
You left out what YOU consider to be a just punishment
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I saw him come out of court, he was pouting and you cod see he had a monk on. Eel not like that prison plaice, but it was his sole responsibility so eel have to hake his punishment like a man. Eel have plenty of time to mullet over, bit of a bass turd though…
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They could always trade the fish in to a prawn broker.
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This man has learnt his lesson.he brought a smile to a lot of faces
it was wrong for what he did so he should be made to work at the aquarium on community service .
this way he can repay a little of what he took.
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Im really sure the aquarium owner would want the thief back in his building. If someone had stolen something as trivial as say a photo of your family from inside your home would you really welcome them back in to do some cleaning on community service? This is why you get repeat offenders like this. In the paper it says hes got previous for dishonesty. The man hasnt learnt.
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Let’s not blow things out of proportion, the man stole a fish! We live on an island surrounded by thousands of them.
Surly this is the sort of thing which police cautions are for?
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How many cautions shall they give him? One for entering a property without permission? One for stealing? One for lying in court? One for fraud? This is why it went to court in the first place because each one is a criminal matter.
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I doubt very much that prison is the ideal plaice- what if he gets salmonella?- Everybody knows the fishy business that takes place in those prison kitchens. Hopefully, those testifying in court will shed another ray of light over this case and the consensus will be that a few squid is the best reparation. After all, his achovie’s heel is only pilchering. For all we know he may be a koi man in private life.
In fact, he may even generate a lucrative career out of pilchering- the profits netted may rival those of lobsters such as Al Caprawn. Though he will have to start off small; that is trouting for commissions until someone says ‘hoki kokey’ , fishes for some money and then his trade becomes successful. Let’s hope that he pays his expenses otherwise he will have an encounter with the loan sharks- they’ll have a whale of a time torturing him for cash.
In conclusion, the most valuable lesson that can be learnt is to think before you act, otherwise you will make a pollock of yourself.
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burglary,then fraud oh and dont forget the
senseless killing of a mature bass.
clearly a thought out and totally premeditated course of events.
this should surpass any consideration of community service.
compensation should be ordered for payment to the value of a 13lb live aquarium bass,far in excess of the £800.00 fraud i would guess.
and a custodial sentence reflecting the deliberate acts carried out.
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I believe it was a very clever well thought out scam. The fact that the fish was recognised by a competitor is why he got caught. This is the kind of clever individual that can be channelled into an upstanding adult. Yes He committed a crime but how many individuals have been changed by imprisonment for minor crime? Why not channel that intelligence into something constructive. Community service is a start.
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How clever and well thought out is stealing the most recognisable fish in the biggest display that tens of thousands of people have seen and the only one in the whole aquarium with a huge spear scar in its head then be stupid enough to pose for pictures that have made himself a laughing stock on websites around the world? There have been far cleverer frauds but they have all resulted in prison sentences. This was a lazy attempt to steal a meesly £800. He then sold the fish afterwards to the competition organisers so they had the evidence. Moriarty he isnt.
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I’ve haddocknuff of these fish jokes.
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Whilst I did laugh about this at first – the truth of the matter is that he did break into a building and steal something – and that is an offence.
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This person broke into another persons property.
people are not seeing that.
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Exactly, Im reading on here, police cautions, community service, cleaning the inside of the aquarium etc.
How would you feel if you came home and found someone stealing in your house? Or find out he was trying to sell jewlery hed broken in to your house to steal? (In fact, realistically, youd have a job to steal a single item that youd get £800 down the pub for in one go) You wouldnt laugh or plead to the whole world in here that he should be treated leniantly.
Its just mind boggling that he thought he could get away with it and to go to such ridiculous lengths to defraud a competition for such a relatively small prize fund. Or more concerning, had no care of the consequences. No normal person would even contemplate it.
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There is something very fishy going on here.
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