Thug pounced on frail scratchcard winner

A CALLOUS thug stole scratchcard winnings of £60 from a vulnerable man with a walking frame after watching him collect the cash from a post office counter.

Malcolm McConchie (43) saw frail Peter McNicholas queue for 10 minutes to draw the money from Oldham Post Office on Lord Street.

The thug, of Huddersfield Road, Scouthead, briefly tailed Mr McNicholas (54) before pinning him against a wall.

Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court heard how McConchie had his hands all over the victim, who also has some brain damage, as he rifled through his pockets.

Geoff Whelan, prosecuting, said there had been a bizarre exchange of words in which McConchie claimed: “I’ve lost something. I’m just looking.”

McConchie then fled in the direction of Tommyfield Market.

But when Mr McNicholas checked his pockets he found the £60 he had just collected, was gone.

The court was told that McConchie was confronted by a passer-by who had seen the confrontation, then arrested two days later after being traced by police. McConchie denied even being in the area but when faced with CCTV footage which clearly showed him in the vicinity of the incident on on May 5, last year, he admitted having been there, but said he had only asked for a cigarette.

Recorder Michael Murray told him: “This was a mean, wicked and cowardly offence.”

Mr Murray told him, however, that having been informed of McConchie’s addiction to alcohol, which affected his behaviour, he was going to impose a four-month prison sentence, suspended for two years.

He told McConchie of Huddersfield Road, Scouthead: “I’m giving you an opportunity some might say you don’t deserve, but you have just swung it. I don’t want to see you here again.”

McConchie was ordered to pay £60 compensation and attend a special programme to addres his alcohol addiction.