A Fordingbridge man stole £800 from his grandmother.

Daniel James Brindley, 21, from High Street, admitted to stealing cheques for £450 and £350 from his grandmother and defrauding her on two occasions.

He was sentenced to a 12- month community order with 150 hours of unpaid work and compensation of £800 to HSBC who initially compensated his grandmother.

Brindley appeared in handcuffs at Southampton Magistrates’ Court after he failed to arrive the day before because he claimed he “had insufficient funds” to get to court. He handed himself into Fordingbridge police station that evening.

A stern chairman of the bench, Morgan Harris, rebuked him for his actions saying: “Stealing from your own grandmother – it doesn’t get an awful lot worse than that. Whether you can look her in the eye again for what you have done, I’m not sure.”

Speaking in mitigation for Brindley, Luke Rigby said: “The defendant accepts that these offences are of a particularly mean nature.

“The money was used to purchase items of survival such as food and accommodation.”