A Leeds fan has been left "bereft" after a homeless drug addict stole £30,000 of treasured collectables, that had been collected over the course of 30 years.
The items, 238 Leeds United programmes, were stolen and then sold on, leaving the victim believing that he will "never recover" all of the items. He had been collecting the programmes since he was a little boy, with some of them dating back to 1925.
The man had kept the items in "pride of place" in his bedroom, but they disappeared after Andrew Dicks, 54, moved into the man's home while he did decorating work. Dicks, of Tivoli Gardens, Grimsby, had been carrying out the decorating work at the man's home and was under strict instructions not to go into the man's bedroom. He was only supposed to go into certain rooms of the house.
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However, the football enthusiast had trusted Dicks and left him unsupervised in his home for two days in May 2019, which is when Dicks cruelly stole the programmes. He quickly sold them on, leaving the original owner "bereft" and unable to recover all of his treasured valuables, GrimsbyLive reports.
Ben Whittingham, prosecuting, told Hull Crown Court that the collection of 238 Leeds United programmes, dated between 1925 and 1945, were of "significant financial value" - about £30,000 in total. The owner has been left "deeply upset" by the theft, the court heard.
The owner of the programmes, who also lives in Cleethorpes, contacted a dealer when he noticed that his collection was missing and discovered that this collector had recently bought 70 football programmes from another collector. They had been sold by Kevin Maloney, in six transactions.
Maloney, 56, had received £9,700 from the first collector that he sold to, this collector had then sold the items to a second dealer for £12,222. All but 32 of the stolen programmes were eventually returned.
The 32 items are still missing, said Mr Whittingham. Dicks had been sleeping rough at the time and he was found with 37 or 38 of the stolen programmes. He admitted theft, and Kevin Moloney, 56, of High Cliff Road, Cleethorpes, admitted handling stolen goods. He had originally been charged with burglary.
The owner later said: "I have been collecting these items for over 30 years and they are very valuable to me. I feel deeply upset that they have been taken. The whole incident frustrated me massively."
He told the court that he had supported Leeds United since he was a "little boy" and had been collecting these programmes for at least 20 years. He said that he was extremely proud of his collection, adding: "I may never recover all of the items again."
Dicks had convictions for 126 previous offences, including 42 for theft and similar matters and 13 for burglary. Moloney had convictions for 14 previous offences, including a four-year jailing.
Rachel Scott, mitigating, said that Dicks had a very poor history of offending but, in the last 10 years, these had slowed down considerably and he had none for dishonesty in that period. Dicks knew a woman who, at the time, was living at the premises with the collector. She had since died.
As Dicks had been homeless during the time of the theft, he had been kindly permitted to sleep in the garage of the collector's home while undertaking decorating work. At the time, he was tackling his drug addiction and was taking methadone to help.
Miss Scott said that Dicks is "remorseful for his actions". She added: "He very much wants to continue his good work and stay sober."
Dale Brook, representing Moloney, said that the defendant had shown significant remorse. "His life has taken a number of wrong turns over the years," said Mr Brook. "Despite those wrong turns, he has not a single conviction for a dishonesty offence."
Moloney was "never alone" when the stolen football programmes were supplied and money was handed over. He claimed that what he got out of the transactions was "drugs and drugs alone" as his share. "He was not the person who originally stole them and he was accompanied at every step of his involvement," said Mr Brook. "That's no excuse for his involvement.
"He was in the throes of a significant drug addiction at the time and his mind was only selfishly focused on that at the time. There is no suggestion that he has benefitted greatly from it personally."
Moloney had moved in with a "saintly couple" who had helped him come off drugs but, although he remained drug-free, he had health problems. "He has not committed any criminal offences since this time," said Mr Brook.
Judge Mark Bury said that Dicks was, at the time, "in with" the woman who was living with the collector. They trusted Dicks sufficiently to allow him to decorate their home and he was left unsupervised to do so, but he betrayed that trust.
The 238 programmes were "part of a valuable collection which had a significant sentimental value," said Judge Bury. Speaking to Dicks, he said: "He had taken between 20 and 30 years to put this collection together and he had it in pride of place in the bedroom. You weren't supposed to be going in the bedroom. While you were left alone, you stole these programmes.
"Within not very long, some of them found their way to a collector of programmes." The collector paid £9,700 for only part of the stolen programmes, about 70 to 80. "They were obviously valuable and in good condition," said Judge Bury.
The collector sold them on to another dealer, who returned more than £12,000 in compensation, meaning that the original buyer had made a profit of about £2,500 on the sale because Moloney had received £9,700. He was arrested in May 2019 but Dicks was not caught until 2020.
"This was a very serious offence of theft," said Judge Bury. "It's in breach of a very high degree of trust." Dicks was once in a relationship with the woman who had lived with the Leeds United fan.
"This was a valuable, economically and sentimentally, collection of programmes," said Judge Bury. "You took a very large proportion of them and they were sold on cynically. We know that you got at least £10,000, no doubt more, because you no doubt sold others to people who have not been located.
"He took 30 years to collect this many programmes. They were valuable to him, both economically and sentimentally. I can imagine that he is totally bereft. It was more so because the person who did this to him was somebody he trusted. You were supposed to be decorating and probably got paid for that too."
Dicks was jailed for eight months and Moloney was locked up for six months.
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