PC praised as cash card scam wound up

PC Gill Moffatt helped to arrest an alleged ringleader of the operation, carried out across the North by a gang of illegal immigrants from Romania.

The officer, based in Durham City, spotted a 33-year-old man who had previously been caught on film at cash dispensers where bank cards were taken from unwary customers before being used at other terminals.

Her colleague, Detective Constable Steve Millward, caught a 17-year-old "in the act" of harassing an elderly woman at a cash machine at a bank branch in Durham last October.

The following day, PC Moffatt picked up still pictures of his accomplice, taken by bank cameras, from the branch.

On returning to the city police station she spotted the man in a cafeteria and alerted colleagues, who arrested him.

The 17-year-old subsequently admitted conspiracy to steal cash cards and money and was sentenced to a six-month detention training order by Durham Crown Court.

Recorder Julian Hallam said he would recommend that the teenager is deported when he is released.

The alleged accomplice, the 33-year-old man, denied the conspiracy, but the charge was "left on file" by the prosecution as the court was told he is to be deported.

Det Con Millward said if the pair had not been caught in Durham many more innocent victims could have lost money.

"They stood outside banks and looked for likely targets, usually lone females and elderly men," he said.

"If it was a lone, elderly woman, it was a bonus. The more vulnerable the better. It was by chance I came across them at the bank in Durham while I was in the city centre on a lunch-time.

"The next day, PC Moffatt happened to see the other man sitting in a cafe as she made her way back to the station with the images she had just collected.

"It was a good bit of police work, which led to his arrest."

Det Con Millward added that it was only the quality of the bank security systems in Durham which helped to catch the perpetrators.