Shrewsbury hotel waiter stole £190 in wedding gifts
A former waiter who stole £190 in wedding gifts from a reception at the hotel where he was then working has been ordered to do community service.
Adam Leversedge was rumbled after his landlord found cards containing the money in a bin at his home.
The cards, one containing a cheque for £100 and the others with £90 cash inside, had been written to newlyweds Kate and Andy Hodgkiss and left for them in a lockable pillarbox in the Lord Hill Hotel in Shrewsbury during their wedding reception on June 8 last year.
Leversedge, 21, of Meadow Farm Drive, Shrewsbury, admitted theft at Shrewsbury Crown Court.
He was yesterday made the subject of a 12-month community order, a requirement of which was that he should do 150 hours work in the community.
He was also ordered to pay a £60 surcharge.
Mr Christopher O'Gorman, prosecuting, told the court that Leversedge was working as a waiter at the Lord Hill when Mr and Mrs Hodgkiss held their wedding reception in the Regency Suite there.
He said guests left money as wedding gifts in cards which were posted into a pillarbox at the function.
Mr O'Gorman said that during the afternoon the bride's mother saw someone carry away the pillarbox only to return it a short while later.
She described the man as white, in his 20s, with short, blonde hair and a baby face and she said she had seen the same man working behind the bar.
The court heard that five cards were found to have been taken when the pillarbox was opened the following day.
Mr O'Gorman said Leversedge moved the cards from his home to a bin outside a newsagent's after his landlord discovered them but later admitted to him what he had done and they were retrieved.
The court heard Leversedge claimed to have found the cards containing the money behind a toilet in the Lord Hill but Judge Simon Tonking, sentencing, said: "Whether you found them in the lavatories really makes no difference because, as a member of staff, you were trusted to look after guests' property.
"That was a mean offence, stealing gifts that had been given to two people on their wedding day."
The court head Leversedge was sacked from the Lord Hill shortly after the theft.
Mr O'Gorman said Leversedge made admissions about the theft and expressed his regret in texts he sent to another former hotel employee after he was sacked.
Judge Tonking said he accepted Leversedge was remorseful.
Mr William Rickarby, defending, said the cheque which had been taken was cancelled and so of no value to anyone.
