Jail sentence quashed for man guilty of golf-ball theft

A man who was jailed for six months for retrieving lost golf balls from lakes had his prison sentence reduced to a conditional discharge yesterday.

John Collinson from Chorley, Lancashire, was found guilty of theft last month after police caught him in possession of 1,158 balls at Whetstone Golf Club in Leicestershire.

At his trial, Leicester Crown Court was told Collinson, 36, and Terry Rostron, 24, were arrested in wet suits and flippers after they set off the golf club's alarm during a night-time trawl of a lake at the course. The judge gave Rostron a 12-month conditional discharge, but jailed Collinson for six months after being told he had gone back to dive for more balls while he was on bail for the original offence.

Yesterday the Court of Appeal ruled that six months' imprisonment was a "disproportionate" punishment for taking golf balls from lakes and reduced it to a non-custodial sentence. The two judges, Lord Justice Potter and Mrs Justice Lafferty, imposed a two-year conditional discharge.

Collinson, who stood in the dock yesterday to hear the judges' decision, had already served nine days of the sentence before being released pending his appeal. The ruling means that he will not have to return to prison.

Lord Justice Potter said the court did not regard the offences as "trivial". A conditional discharge was not a "let-off" and should be seen as a deterrent to further clandestine night-time operations.

Hundreds of divers around Britain visit courses every night to collect golf balls, which are sold on either privately or to chain stores. Collinson supplied Lakeballs UK, which sends the balls to high street stores.

After he was arrested he told police that lost golf balls belonged to no one and he was within his rights to take and sell them. He had even returned to the course to search for more balls while on bail.

At his trial, Judge Bray told him: "This has been going on for 10 years. It is obvious you show no remorse and no intention of quitting. Even after this offence you were back and stole there again while on bail."

After he was released on bail Collinson told a newspaper the humiliation he suffered had made him feel "lower than a dog". He said: "It was terrifying. I had to strip off and stand naked while an officer took my personal belongings and gave me a uniform." He said his cell mate at a Leicester jail had tried to help him through the ordeal but he could not adjust to being in prison. "He told me to create a little world in my head and forget about everything else. But I couldn't," he said.

A member of his legal team described him as "a very happy man" and that he intended to fight on to have his conviction quashed. Collinson was convicted of one count of theft and one of going equipped. His defence lawyers argued that the balls were abandoned and there was no dishonest intent in retrieving them.