Woman denies theft from cash machine

A WOMAN who turned away from a cash machine while she was in the process of withdrawing �10 saw another woman taking her money, a court heard.

Carley O’Neill had gone to a cash machine in Queen’s Way, Ipswich, on January 9 to get some money before getting a taxi to take her back to hospital where her son was a patient, Ipswich Crown Court was told.

Miss O’Neill said she had been calling for a taxi on her moible phone and withdrawing money from the machine at the same time and had taken her card out of the machine and stepped to one side when she heard a “beeping” sound coming from the machine.

She said she hadn’t taken her money from the machine and when she turned back to get her �10 she saw a woman take the note and put it under her purse.

“I told her it was my money and that I’d forgotten to take it,” said Miss O’Neill.

She said the woman had denied taking her �10 and she had gone into a nearby shop and asked staff about CCTV footage and had then reported the matter to the police when she got back to the hospital.

Before the court was Rebecca Edgley, 27, of Coniston Square West, Ipswich, who had denied stealing �10 from Miss O’Neill but was found guilty by a jury.

Cross-examined by defence counsel Craig Marchant, Miss O’Neill denied a suggestion that she hadn’t been concentrating on what she was doing because she was worried about her son and hadn’t carried out the transaction.

Giving evidence, Edgley said she had used the cash machine to withdraw some money and to check her balance and denied taking any money that didn’t belong to her.

She will be sentenced at a later date after pre-sentecnce reports are completed.