A Story You Wouldn’t Believe On ‘CSI’…

A hard-up forensic science student stole more than £2,500 from a shop…

To pay for sunglasses and a Hummer..?

… because his mum was spending all her money on a private investigator to track down her husband.

I…

I just…

He said: "My mother worked for Northern Rock and quit because she had a bad accident a year ago. Her car flipped over on a motorway and was shunted 100m by a lorry.

"My dad left her and she didn't know why, and he didn't pay any attention to me and my brothers or sisters, so she hired a PI to find out what he had been doing.

"She suffered from depression and her work was only paying her a third of her income.

"She got another job while she was out injured, but she couldn't afford to pay as much for my university accommodation so I started working over the summer and that was it."

Well, yes, that’s what normal people do when they want money; they work….

The court heard that Regis, a second-year student at the University of the West of England, started work at the trendy fashion shop Hollister in May this year as a cashier.

But a loss prevention officer from the company found that the tills he was using were consistently down, so monitored them using special software.

It found that Regis was taking cash payments for items without ringing them through the till.

Good to see he used his extensive knowledge to get away with the perfect crime…

The court heard that Regis has since gained a job as a club promoter in between his studies to repay what he had taken, and has already earned £2,100 to give back to the shop.

That’s a very understanding club!

Magistrates fined him £100, with £85 costs and a £15 victim surcharge, and ordered him to repay the money he had stolen in full.

Presiding magistrate Dr Martin Crosley-Evans told him: "This is something you will have a great deal of difficulty in living down, because it is a very serious reflection on your character."

You might think so, but I’m not so sure…

Would a forensic science lab even take him on, with this sort of offence on his record?