Woman in laundry Lotto ticket claim faces theft charges

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/mar/01/woman-laundry-lotto-ticket-claim-faces-theft-charges

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A woman at the centre of a £33m National Lottery controversy has gone on trial accused of stealing a video-game controller from a man she met through a dating app.

Susanne Hinte, who hit the headlines after it was suggested a winning Lotto ticket had been badly damaged when it went through a washing machine, is also accused of taking a purse from an elderly good Samaritan. Hinte, 48, from Worcester, denies two counts of theft.

Opening the case, Muhammad Awan, prosecuting, alleged that Hinte stole a purse containing debit and credit cards and £55 in cash from the home of 73-year-old Susan Kirby.

Awan told magistrates in Birmingham that Hinte called at Kirby’s bungalow in Tile Cross on 3 January last year and told her she was trying to reach her blind date, Glen Gregory, but was lost and her phone needed to be charged.

Kirby invited her in and helped her contact Gregory. Hinte hugged and kissed Kirby before leaving, it is claimed. After Hinte had left, Kirby noticed that her purse was missing from a kitchen counter and called the police.

Meanwhile, Hinte went to the home of Gregory, whom she was meeting for the first time. She arrived at 11.30pm and asked him about an Xbox, the court heard. “She asks if she can buy it from him,” said Awan. “He told her she couldn’t, she then stays the night and leaves the following morning.”

Gregory told magistrates that he gave £10 to Hinte to cover her petrol money as she left his home in Chelmsley Wood, Solihull, and only noticed that the wireless Xbox controller was missing after being contacted by police who had spoken to Kirby.

Hinte, of Worcester, was interviewed by police in early February last year when she accepted being at both addresses but denied stealing anything from either property.

In her evidence, Kirby was adamant that she saw Hinte “dart” towards her purse. She said: “I was attempting to do someone a good turn. I blamed myself for letting her in but then that’s what you do if someone needs help.”

Gregory said in his evidence that he had first communicated with Hinte – who called herself Sabine – on a website about a month before they met. He told the court that he was not now certain that she had taken his Xbox controller.

The trial was adjourned until 13 April. Hinte, who was said by her solicitor to be suffering from a heart problem, left the court accompanied by her showbusiness agent, Barry Tomes. She is said to be contemplating a career in reality television after it became clear that she had not won a fortune.