Gambling Addict steals to fund addiction

Gambling addict who stole £2,000 from casino cash desk is jailed
A DESPERATE gambling addict who grabbed about £2,000 from a casino cash desk has been jailed for three months.

Peter Schmieden, aged 44, distracted a cashier at the Stanley Casino in the city centre before running away with bundles of cash, a court heard.

Plymouth magistrates were told he had been driven to the brink of suicide by his addiction to fruit machines.

Schmieden, of Brooke Close, Saltash, admitted burglary at the Union Street casino, stealing an unknown amount of cash on February 18.

The court heard that Schmieden was in breach of a suspended prison sentence imposed only last month for theft from a house and possession of a knife in public.

Gareth Warden, for the Crown Prosecution Service, said that Schmieden told the cashier that he had won £500 on a fruit machine but it had switched off just before 7pm.

He added that as she turned to call for someone to help, he leaned over the desk and grabbed three bundles of notes.

Mr Warden said that Schmieden ran towards the door with a security guard in pursuit.

He added that Schmieden dropped money on the floor and both he and the guard stopped to pick it up.

Schmieden then escaped in a taxi.

Mr Warden said the casino could not say how much had been taken, but Schmeiden confessed to taking £2,000.

Michael Crumley, for Schmieden, said that the casino burglary was 'spur of the moment' and Schmieden had even left his correct name and address at the reception desk.

He added: "He is a man desperately in the grip of a gambling addiction which has really taken over his life."

Mr Crumley said that the addiction to slot machines started when his client took his mother out on trips to casinos.

He added that Schmieden's life took a further downward spiral when first his mother died and then his partner succumbed to cancer.

Mr Crumley said that Schmieden had sought help from Gamblers Anonymous but those in the group had looked down upon him because he was addicted to fruit machines rather than horse racing.

He added that he was given the suspended sentence for an offence of taking a knife on to the Tamar Bridge in a bid to slash his wrists and throw himself off to his death.

The court heard that he was spotted by a passer-by and talked down by police.

Mr Crumley said that Schmieden was under the care of a community psychiatric nurse.