'Lowlife' stole £499 phone from stroke victim as he lay unconscious

A “LOWLIFE” who stole a £499 mobile phone from a man lying unconscious after he suffered a seizure, was branded “despicable” by magistrates yesterday.

stole, mobile phone, man, unconscious, seizure, mugged, thief, theft, emma woods, andrew moulding, collapsed, stroke, funeralEmma Woods stole Andrew Moulding's phone as he lay unconscious[CAVENDISH PRESS]

Mother-of-two Emma Woods, 27, admitted taking the Sony Xperia from the man’s pocket as he lay unconscious.

Her victim, Andrew Moulding, 46, told the court: “I felt disgusted, violated and stripped of my dignity knowing someone had been going through my pockets when I was at my most vulnerable.

“I could have been dead on the floor, it wouldn’t have stopped her.”

Burnley magistrates heard that Mr Moulding collapsed in his local after leaving home for the first time in eight months – after suffering a stroke – to attend a friend’s funeral.

I felt disgusted, violated and stripped of my dignity knowing someone had been going through my pockets when I was at my most vulnerable

Andrew Moulding

Rather than rush to his aid, Woods saw an opportunity for theft, said prosecutor Andrew Robinson.

He went on: “CCTV in the store showed her removing his mobile phone, looking at it and scrolling through it.

“She said she would return it to his father, that wasn’t done.”

Mr Moulding, a joiner until his first stroke in January last year, spent two days recovering at Royal Blackburn Hospital after the crime in September.

In court chairman of the bench Jack Paley became angry with Woods as she stood in the dock, telling her: “Get your hands out of your pockets.”

Handing her a 20-week suspended sentence, magistrates told Woods: “It was indeed a despicable act. You are not going down the steps today, but you were very close.

“You are a very lucky lady. The next 12 months if you do anything wrong I can guarantee you will not be walking out.”

Woods, of Nelson, Lancs, who was once jailed for breaching a suspended sentence, was also given a 12 months supervision order and must have treatment for alcohol problems and pay her victim £499.

After the trial, Mr Moulding said: “She is scum of the earth. She is a lowlife. She is shameless.”

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