Conservative councillor guilty of stealing child’s pushchair

Sussex World reports:

Adur district councillor Paul Mansfield … was accused of stealing a Joie stroller at Itchenor Sailing Club, Chichester, on August 28, 2022.

CCTV footage, which was shown in court, showed Mansfield – joined by his aunt, Shirley Cheal, and a friend – putting the pram in the boot of his wife’s white Citroen.

The councillor, who represents Peverel ward in Sompting, denied it was him who stole the pushchair, claiming his friend had picked it up with a view to recycling it…

The court heard Mansfield was given the chance to pay back the value of the pushchair via a community resolution order but declined.

PC Chloe Curis, appearing via videolink, said: “He was quite rude on the phone. He said he would not pay and ‘you’ll have to take me to court’.”…

The chairman of the bench, Nicholas Wells, said: “You and Ms Cheal gave some contradictory and vague answers. Any ordinary or decent person would have queried who that buggy belonged to and would not have put it in the boot of a car.”

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