A thief who stole a defibrillator from a community responder as he treated a patient on a a Cumbrian railway station platform has been spared immediate prison.
Kerry Stafford-Roberts, a North West Ambulance Service volunteer, was paged to attend Oxenholme station, near Kendal, at around 6.40pm on December 1 and told there was a medical emergency. On arrival at the station he made his way to platform two where a female was lying on the ground.
“He set his defibrillator down next to her head,” prosecutor Pam Ward told Carlisle Magistrates’ Court.
The woman stood up briefly but then collapsed the opposite way with her feet next to the unused device. Around 45 minutes later, Mr Stafford-Roberts began to hand over treatment to paramedics who had arrived.
The woman was transported away and the responder began to gather his belongings. “He then noticed his defibrillator was missing,” said Mrs Ward.
It had been stolen by 35-year-old Thomas Paul McNaught, who had come to the attention of station staff and the responder by making a nuisance of himself as first aid was administered.
CCTV footage was viewed and showed him taking the defibrillator. He boarded a train and was later detained at Carlisle having been taken off a West Coast Main Line service.
“I’m very disappointed this happened,” Mr Stafford-Roberts had said. “The female I treated was having a serious cardiac incident. If the condition had worsened to the point where I would have had to use the defibrillator, the consequences of it being missing could have been fatal.”
McNaught, of Hathaway Lane, Glasgow, admitted theft on his first court appearance and was sentenced today.
Nick Kennon, defending, said: “The offence is as inexplicable as it is inexcusable.”
It had been opportunistic with McNaught addressing his wrongdoing with a probation officer. “He expressed genuine remorse,” it was noted. “He displayed shame and described his action as horrible.”
McNaught had no recollection of the theft. He had suffered a traumatic brain injury in 2005 which had dogged and plagued him ever since, leading to absences and memory loss, said Mr Kennon.
McNaught had fallen in with a poor cohort of friends during the COVID pandemic and engaged in drug use. But more recently he had been working with probation and showing signs of mending his ways. He was no longer alcohol or drug dependent.
Magistrates suspended a 26-week jail term for 12 months, concluding there was a realistic prospect of rehabilitation. McNaught must complete 10 days’ probation work and pay £1,200 compensation.
- British Transport Police announced earlier this month that the defibrillator had subsequently been recovered at a hotel in Bowness-on-Windermere.
