'Homeless' Canadian admits to using lost credit card

A court is to decide next week on how it will punish a 57-year-old Canadian man who admitted to using a lost bank card to buy €35 worth of groceries.

Police Inspector Neville Mercieca arraigned Perry Thomas Bilsborrow on fraud charges before magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera this morning, also charging the Canadian with being a recidivist.

He told the court that the accused had been arrested after he had walked into a shop in Gzira and bought cigarettes, beer and food. At the checkout counter, Bilsborrow paid using the bank card, which he said he had found.

Bilsborrow pleaded guilty to the charges.

The court was told that the softly-spoken accused, who looked far older than his 57 years, was already under a suspended sentence for drug possession and theft.

The Inspector was reluctant to have the accused released on bail, as he was homeless, but the accused corrected him, saying that he will be living at a friend’s flat in Sliema until the promulgation of his sentence.

The magistrate granted Bilsborrow bail against a personal guarantee of €1,000, placing him under a curfew and ordering him to sign a bail book daily. The sentence will be delivered in two weeks’ time.

Lawyer Patrick Valentino was legal aid.