His father was a renowned stamp collector and he was a slot machine addict. The result was 29-year-old Joseph Jennings from the U.K. pleading guilty to stealing part of his late father’s stamp collection to fund his degenerate gambling at a local betting shop.
According to the Guardian, Jennings’ guilty plea and his mother’s plea for leniency for him persuaded the judge in the case to spare him any prison time.
He sold the stamps for nearly £14,000, but they were worth much more.
The judge commented:
“When your father died he left all of his property to your mother and that included a very valuable stamp collection, which the family were plainly proud of. It was also a significant part of your mother’s pension planning. You took items from that stamp collection over a prolonged period of time and you sold them to dealers, for which you received just under £14,000.”
Roughly 75 percent of the stamps Jennings sold have been returned to his mother.
The lawyer for Jennings remarked: “My client liked a particular fruit machine—that’s where the money went, into one machine.”
While he will avoid prison, he was ordered to undertake 150 hours of unpaid community work.
