A CASH-strapped Barrow man who illegally abstracted electricity at his rented property has been fined.
Police attended Scott Andrew’s Law’s town address on Boxing Day last year and noted a discrepancy with a meter.
When Electricity North West staff arrived to inspect it was noted that two parts of the meter had been bypassed, stopping a reading being given.
It was not known how long this had been done for, or the value of electricity used.
Law, 35, made full admissions when interviewed, and at South Cumbria Magistrates’ Court this morning (FRI) he pleaded guilty to dishonestly using a quantity of electricity without authority.
“He had got somebody to do it,” prosecutor Lee Dacre said of the meter bypass. “He was struggling financially and couldn’t afford to pay.”
The court heard Law insisted that the meter bypass “had not been applied very long before his arrest”.
Although he had previously moved out of his mother’s address and into the rented property amid personal difficulties, he had since returned to live with her after making positive rehabilitation progress.
Law, of Duke Street, Barrow, was fined £160 by the District Judge, Gerald Chalk, and ordered to pay costs and a victim surcharge.
