Daniel Welham (26), of Les Charrières d’Anne Port, St Martin, admitted to a charge of stealing by finding a phone worth £643.90 in the early evening of 28 June.
The victim accidentally left her iPhone on the 2a bus at about 5.45 pm.
When she got off, she immediately called the phone, but it was not switched on. She realised something was wrong, as she had been using it a few minutes earlier and it was fully charged.
She spoke to LibertyBus and when they reviewed their CCTV footage, it showed that the man sitting opposite her had picked it up. The woman remembered he had a tattoo on his neck with the name ‘Mason’ on it. She reported the theft to police.
Two days later, her boyfriend was driving his car when he spotted the man on the bus. He followed the bus and then followed the man and watched him go to an address at Anne Port.
As a result, Welham was arrested and he admitted that he had taken the phone. He told officers that he was going to keep the phone, but realised it was locked and decided that he wanted to return it. However, he left it on a seat at the bus shelter at Gorey Pier. The phone has not been recovered.
Advocate Jane Grace, defending, said that her client had made ‘a momentary decision’ to keep the phone, but then made an attempt to take it back. She said that he was remorseful.
Welham was also fined a further £350 after he admitted being drunk and disorderly at the Esplanade in the early hours of 31 October.
At about 12.25 am, a police officer spotted four men squaring up to each other. The court heard that Welham was being restrained and made several attempts to get to another man.
The three other men accepted words of advice from the officer and calmed down, but the defendant continued to be aggressive towards the police officer. He was being held back by his friends and was heard to say: ‘I am going to f***ing fight him.’
Advocate Grace said that Welham had just finished working a season as a chef and was out with friends celebrating. She said that he was soon to return to the UK where he had a good job to go to.
