A MAN stole from his mum because he was too proud to tell her he had lost his job.

Trevor Romain, 46, was before Huddersfield magistrates yesterday.

He admitted stealing hundreds of pounds of cash out of two of Ruth Joseph’s bank accounts.

He was caught when Mrs Joseph queried odd amounts of money being withdrawn.

Carole Lawford, prosecuting, said that in July Mrs Joseph noticed that money had been withdrawn from a cash machine using her card details.

She checked with her bank and found that from May 27 until July 18 there had been 28 cash withdrawals totalling £670.

Following this discovery Mrs Joseph checked her other account with Halifax and realised that further small amounts had been withdrawn.

Mrs Joseph said that both this account and her account with Lloyds TSB were in her name and no-one else was authorised to access them.

Romain admitted withdrawing the cash and said that he took his mother’s card details and her pin number from her purse while she was sleeping.

He said he spent the money on food and fuel as well as for topping up his phone.

Romain claimed that he had meant to put the money back but the amount he owed escalated.

Magistrates were told that he had been given a caution previously for theft of a bottle of shampoo.

Jonathan Slawinski, defending, described his client’s case as ‘sad’. He said that Romain now lives in Sheffield but still visits his mother in Huddersfield.

Mrs Joseph had planned to move to the West Indies in October but illness forced her to pull out of the trip.

Romain was looking after her and missed his work shifts as a warehouse operative to see her.

He lost his job as a result but didn’t tell his mother. However, because of his low income he had to find money to visit her.

Mr Slawinski said: “He continued his journeys from Sheffield to Huddersfield to help look after his mother.

“He kept up the pretence that he was still working but he was penniless. He couldn’t face the embarrassment of owning up to losing his job.

“He had to fill the car up and rather than tell his mother he took the card.”

Mr Slawinski said that Romain bought food for his mum and even paid some of her bills with the money he stole.

Magistrates gave Romain a community order for 12 months with 100 hours unpaid work.

He was also ordered to pay £400 compensation to his mother.