Published: Thursday, 27th November, 2008 9:00am

Teen in £28,000 credit card spree

by Richard Crowe

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A TEENAGER stole a credit card from a friend's family for a £28,000 spending spree and trashed their house while they were on holiday.

The 16-year-old from Lower Earley used the parents' American Express card to splash out on Apple iPhones, Nokia mobile phones, Zen MP3 players, jewellery and a £5,000 computer graphics card.

The unsuspecting family, from Twyford, returned home from holiday to find obscene graffiti sprayed over the walls, poured glue into their flatscreen TV and pornographic pictures scattered around the house - including under their 12-year-old daughter's pillow.

Maidenhead youth court heard on Tuesday that the boy had used a key taken on a previous visit to get into the house.

The boy used the family's laptop to order all his shopping.

Prosecutor Nilam Salh said: "He arranged for the goods to be delivered to a friend's address. In police interviews he became very emotional and broke down when he'd realised what he had done."

But Ms Salh said a lot of the goods were never delivered because the credit card company became suspicious after spotting the unusual number of transactions.

Andrew Port, defending, said: "My client has recognised the hurt he has caused.

"Between him and close friends they joked about what it would be like to get into the house.

"There is no explanation as to why he did this. It wasn't spite or malice and he wasn't going to sell the stuff on.

"The thing that crossed his mind the most was 'what are they going to think when they get home?'"

He said a custodial sentence would be inappropriate because the boy had realised the severity of his actions.

Magistrates' chairman Geoff Howard said: "None of us want to see you go into custody for this offence.

"Having said that, it is an extremely serious offence. Whatever you think of it, it's an abuse of trust which caused distress to a great many people.

"I would like you to put yourself in the position of that family. How do you think you and your family would feel if something like that happened to you?"

Mr Howard imposed a 12-month referral order on the teenager, during which he will have to regularly attend sessions with the Wokingham Youth Offending Team.

He also ordered him to pay £1,000 compensation to the aggrieved family for their distress.

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