A THIEF who conned a Chester man out of his 55-inch Smart TV has been sentenced at Chester Magistrates Court.

Edward Stokes, 20, of Kettell Avenue, Crewe, pleaded guilty to the charge of theft when he appeared at the court via videolink on Friday, January 21.

Prosecuting, Amie Gouldson said it was in February 2021 when the victim, Callum Barlow, had put the 55-inch Hisense Smart TV up for sale on Facebook Marketplace.

A person who gave their details as 'Sam Cox' got in touch and a price of £500 was agreed for the TV, with an offer to collect it from Mr Barlow's home address on February 17.

Stokes arrived in a Transit van with another man, who remained in the vehicle. Mr Barlow confirmed with Stokes the banking details for the transfer of £500 and Stokes appeared to show the payment had been made electronically on his phone, but Mr Barlow did not check on his account to see if the money had gone in.

Mr Barlow had obtained Stokes's mobile phone number, and checked that it worked, at the time the TV was 'sold', in case there were any difficulties with the payment.

Later, Mr Barlow saw the payment had not gone through and contacted Stokes using the phone number, who claimed he had contacted the bank.

The victim then texted Stokes twice for payment, without any reply.

On February 27, Mr Barlow contacted the police and an officer called the phone number. During the conversation, the man on the other end said he was Sam Cox, provided a different birth date, and said he did not believe the police officer was really a police officer.

Checks were carried out to locate Stokes, who provided a 'no comment' interview when arrested.

In a subsequent ID parade, Stokes was positively identified.

He had no previous convictions.

Defending, Stuart Flood said stokes had entered a timely guilty plea and the defendant could not explain where the TV had gone since, as it had been disposed of.

District Judge Nicholas Sanders said: "It was a nasty thing to do. People like to trust other people when they put things on Facebook Marketplace, or eBay."

Stokes was sentenced to a 16-week electronically monitored curfew, 6pm-6am, at his home address.

He must pay £500 compensation to Mr Barlow.

DJ Sanders also imposed a six-month driving ban, despite the defendant's upset claim from the videolink that he had not driven the van.