A 26-year-old man who held a knife to another man’s throat and threatened to smash his parents’ windows has escaped a jail sentence “by the slimmest of margins”.
The Royal Court heard that Liam Adrian White also defrauded two people of a total of more than £5,300.
He was ordered to pay them both back – and given a 23-month prison sentence, suspended for two years.
Crown Advocate Paul Lee, prosecuting, said that White had stole £2,928 from his ex-partner, and £2,391 from an acquaintance.
The first theft
In April 2023, White’s ex-partner gave him her bank card for the purpose of purchasing a takeaway.
Advocate Lee said that she only gave White permission to carry out that single transaction.
A month later, the woman checked her bank account and noticed that she only had £5 in the account.
She had been using the account to save money for her child and therefore expected the account to hold around £2,000, the advocate said.
The woman reviewed her accounts and discovered that between over the course of the previous month, there had been 24 unauthorised transfers from her account to a Revolut account.
She also noticed 18 transactions which she had not authorised, and several unexpected payments into her account from White.
The woman asked White about the payments into her account and he told her he had made them to her in error, instead of to his son’s savings account.
She also told White about the money that had been stolen and he described it as “disgusting”.
The second theft
Adovcate Lee told the court that White met his second victim in October 2023 at the house of mutual friend.
The three of them were drinking alcohol and listening to music on the victim’s phone.
When White asked if he could play some music, the man provided him with the passcode for his phone.
The passcode for the man’s Revolut banking application was the same as the code to access his phone.
His phone also contained photographs of his HSBC bank card and banking details.
White had the victim’s phone for around half an hour.
Advocate Lee said that, during that time, the victim was “very intoxicated and spent a period of the evening vomiting”.
The next morning, the victim attempted to access his Revolut banking application – but the passcode did not work.
He then reset his account and, upon gaining access, discovered that a total of £226 had been transferred to White’s bank account in two transactions at approximately 03:00 that morning.
The victim later became aware that nine transactions totalling £2,165 had been made from his HSBC bank account to an unidentified account
Advocate Lee said that total of £2,391 had been taken from the victim’s bank accounts without his permission.
The man suspected that White was responsible for taking the money from his account.
He reported the matter to his bank and was reimbursed £2,165, but did not immediately report the incident to the police.
The assault
Advocate Lee explained that the following month, White arrived at a friend’s flat on a new electric scooter.
Whilst he was there, he encountered the man whose money he had stolen.
Suspecting that White had bought the gadget with the stolen money, the man commented with irony: “That’s a nice new scooter.”
White replied: “It would be nice if I smashed your parents’ windows in.”
Advocate Lee said White then seized a kitchen knife and held it close to the man’s neck.
He did not hold it against his skin but the advocate said: “If he had flinched or moved his head even slightly there would have been contact.”
White ultimately admitted the thefts but not the assault.
“He does not feel remorse for his actions”
However, Advocate Lee said that after the incident, White had sent a friend a text message saying: “I’m going to be getting nicked.”
White later told the police he was just “bigging himself up”.
The advocate said that White had 36 previous convictions, 20 of which were for dishonesty, and had regularly breached court orders.
A probation report had assessed him as “at very high risk of general reconviction” within the next year.
Advocate Lee said: “He does not feel remorse for his actions.
“Regarding the assault, he makes some expression of self-justification.
“The Crown cannot find any special mitigation.”
He recommended a jail sentence of two years and two months.
“You have an appalling record”
Advocate Chris Baglin, defending, pointed out that White had not committed any offences within the last 19 months, despite the risk identified by the probation report.
He said White had had “a terrible start in life” but now had some stability, and recommended a suspended sentence, telling the Jurats: “You can give him that opportunity if you see fit.”
Commissioner Alan Binnington told White: “For someone of your age, you have an appalling record.
“But you had a very challenging childhood, suffering abuse and neglect.
“By the slimmest of margins we are prepared to accept that you are at a crossroads in your life.”
However, he warned White that if he offended while subject to the suspended sentence he would go “straight up to La Moye”.
Jurats Averty and Gardener were sitting.
