A man stole his step-sister’s caravan and sold it for £100 after he had been living in it and had done it up.
Tony Halsall (47), of Pinchbeck Road, Spalding, had been staying with his family in Devon since 2008.
Marie Stace, prosecuting, said after Halsall’s father passed away in 2009, his step mother told Halsall he was welcome to stay on.
Originally, he had his own caravan, but that burned down, and he moved to a caravan owned by her daughter, his step-sister.
She said there were problems in the family in August last year and Halsall packed up and left, taking the caravan with him.
Miss Stace said he had no permission to take it.
She said Halsall told police: “He had lived in it for so long he had forgotten that it wasn’t his.”
Halsall pleaded guilty on Thursday to theft of a £600, four berth caravan belonging to Julie Wells, at Buckland Monachorum.
He was fined £145 and ordered to pay £85 costs and a £15 victim surcharge.
Magistrates also ordered him to pay £100 compensation.
Solicitor Daven Naghen, for Halsall, queried the value of the caravan given in the charge as Halsall had sold it for £100.
Mr Naghen said Halsall completely renovated the caravan and after three-and-a-half years, when things weren’t going well in the family, he gave it no thought and left in it.
“He had lived in it, he had done the work on it,” said Mr Naghen. “He now accepts that he wasn’t the true owner and accepts that he would be guilty of theft.”