Supervision order after ‘despicable crime’

A MAN from Lerwick who fraudulently obtained £1,700 from another man by pretending to sign him up to the Masonic lodge has been placed under supervision for 18 months.

Andrew Goodlad, of St Olaf Street, was also given 140 hours of unpaid work to complete when he appeared at Lerwick Sheriff Court on Wednesday.

The 23 year old previously pled guilty to the offence, which took place between 9 November 2015 and 25 August 2016 at his home address and other locations in Lerwick.

He admitted pretending to be a member of the masonic lodge and paying a joining fee, expenses and contributions on a man’s behalf in relation to his membership while knowing he was not a member, had not paid his membership fee or enrolled him as a member.

Defence agent Tommy Allan said a social work report prepared following Goodlad’s earlier plea recommended a community payback order as a possible sentence.

Sheriff Philip Mann said the 23 year old had committed a “despicable” crime which would have caused his victim a “great deal of distress”.

He said if it not had been for Goodlad being a first time offender, he would have considered sending him to jail.

However, the sheriff said in this instance custody was suitable if it was the only feasible option and placed him on a community payback order.