WAKEFIELD, UK: A ‘brave’ thief returned to the pet shop where he had stolen a fish tank - because he wanted to buy goldfish to put in it.
Nigel Ball, 52, was nabbed after he decided the best place to buy fish for his contraband £50 container was the place he took it from, according to reports. Staff at the Pets at Home store became suspicious when, after buying the fish, he suggested he wanted the same model of tank he had stolen earlier.
They then got him to fill out a sheet with his name and address, which he didn’t think twice about doing. ‘I went to buy goldfish but had to fill out a form with my details. That’s what got me,’ Mr Ball told police when he was arrested at his residence in Wakefield, West Yorkshire.
He admitted to stealing the container in court, with the prosecutor Rory Byrne saying the theft was bold. ‘As brazen as anything he lifted the fish tank off the shelf, as big as it is, and simply walked out of the store,’ he said. ‘Some sight it must have been. It was his return which got him. No pun intended, but the main prosecution witness is a Mr Severn, as in the river.’–MT