A man has admitted stealing a defibrillator from a first responder who was dealing with a medical emergency at a Cumbria railway station.
Thomas Paul McNaught, 35, was said to have been making a nuisance of himself at around 6-40pm on December 1 as first responder Kerry Stafford-Roberts was at the scene of a medical emergency at Oxenholme The Lake District.
Mr Stafford-Roberts set down his medical equipment, which included a defibrillator, while administering first aid.
After an ambulance crew arrived and transported the patient to hospital, Mr Stafford-Roberts started to collect his kit. “He noticed his defibrillator was missing,” prosecutor Pam Ward told Carlisle Magistrates’ Court.
He asked station staff to check CCTV footage and this showed a male approaching the defibrillator. He picked it up and went to sit on a nearby bench before boarding a train.
McNaught was later taken off a west coast main line service at Carlisle, detained and gave a “no comment” interview.
A description of McNaught was circulated as attempts were made to trace him, with a Cumbria police spokesman describing his crime as “abhorrent”.
McNaught appeared in court today (tues) and admitted stealing the £1,200 defibrillator from the responder.
Mrs Ward said the offence had “sparked outrage” on social media as the public appeal for information was launched. “First responders are volunteers and defibrillators are funded entirely through fund-raising,” she said. “There was significant additional harm to the victim and others.”
McNaught’s solicitor, Jeff Smith, said the defendant had committed a “potentially very dangerous offence” which he couldn’t explain. Medical evidence attested to head injury history and that he had suffered from seizures and a brain haemorrhage.
Magistrates adjourned the case for the preparation of a probation service pre-sentence report. McNaught, of Hathaway Lane, Glasgow, is due to be punished on January 17, and was bailed in the meantime.
