A REPOSSESSION agent
who stole a £150,000
yacht from a Hampshire
boatyard and sailed to
Southampton where it
was taken out of the
water has been jailed for
30 months.
Serial offender Mark Richards,
44, took Kaprina 11 from its
Swanwick mooring in fading
light and against the tide - and
within minutes he had crashed
into another yacht.
It was the last anyone saw of the
eight-berth, 43-footer until it was
discovered at a boatyard in
Woolston days later after it had
been taken out of the water by
crane.
The yacht belonged to Berkshire
farmer Richard Astor and his
wife, Katherine.
Southampton Crown Court
heard that Richards had been
seen to board Kaprina 11 on three
occasions and had planned to
offer £25,000 to buy her, although
he had been told by other owners
at the boatyard it was not for sale.
On arrest, he claimed he had
bought the boat from Mr Astor
and tried to support his story
with documentation. But the
court heard he had never met Mr
Astor and had forged documents.
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Richards, of North East Road,
Sholing, had been convicted at an
earlier hearing of theft.
In mitigation, Charles Thomas
said the boat had been quickly
recovered after being taken.
References indicated Richards
was a committed family man and
may have been motivated by
financial pressures.
Mr Thomas said: "This is a
strange case. It is hard for anyone
to envisage how anyone thinking
clearly could possibly have
thought they would get away with
it."
Passing sentence, Judge
Christopher Leigh QC told
Richards, who had 22 previous
convictions for offences of dishonesty:
"You have shown a complete
lack of remorse. Once it became
apparent the boat had been taken,
you forged receipts and a letter to
support your lying story you had
bought it.
"There is absolutely no alternative
to imprisonment."
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