Bassetlaw man stood lookout while pal fiddled £500 from slot machines at seaside

CCTV recorded Paul Hancock standing by in a Cleethorpes amusement arcade while an accomplice used his phone to see the next rows and insert a metal wire.

Prosecutor Michael Little said this ‘caused an override of the mechanism’ and coins to tumble from at least two machines, at around 2.40pm, on November 8 last year.

Humberside police circulated Hancock's picture and he was finally arrested on New Year's Eve in Nottinghamshire with a small amount of cocaine on him.

In a separate incident on June 14, last year, Doncaster police were called to Dorchester Road after a car crashed into a fence.

There was nobody inside when they got there, but witnesses told them about two men who were were arguing and fighting in a nearby field.

A 'heavily-intoxicated' Hancock was asked to leave the scene, but he became verbally abusive to the officers and members of the public and he was arrested for drunk and disorderly behaviour.

The court heard he has 36 previous convictions for 86 offences, and was last in trouble in February 2021.

Pamela Coxon, mitigating, said Hancock has been in custody for two months and that time has ‘helped him realise he needs to break this cycle’.

“He was having issues with drug abuse but he is now stable on a Methadone script,” she said.

“Despite his age and the length of time he has been involved with the courts the probation service say he would benefit from rehabilitation.

“He candidly states he is getting too old for this game and acknowledges he has associated with the wrong sort of people.”

Hancock, of Serlby Park Drive, Bircotes, admitted theft by finding, drunk and disorderly behaviour, and possession of a class A drug, when he appeared at Mansfield Magistrates Court on January 19.

On Thursday, he received a 12-month community order with 30 rehabilitation days, a six-month drug programme and 100 hours of unpaid work.He was ordered to pay £250 compensation, a £114 surcharge and £85 costs.