A YOUNG former soldier stole a wallet from Wet n Wild and tried to use the credit cards, a court heard.

Owen Kempsell, 19, from Yacley Close, Newton Aycliffe, claimed he found a discarded jacket with a wallet on the floor of the North Shields water park.

But the victim said his locker, which was locked shut, had been forced and the jacket stolen.

Kempsell pleaded guilty to theft and two counts of fraud by false representation when he appeared before magistrates in Newton Aycliffe.

Joanne Hesse, prosecuting, said: "This occurred at Wet n Wild where the victim realised his wallet had been stolen, which included bank cards, railway tickets, and £50 cash.

"It had been stored inside his coat pocket inside a locker at Wet n Wild.

"The defendant then attended an Esso garage on St Cuthbert's Way (in Newton Aycliffe) and used the card.

"He then attempted to purchase £30 of scratch cards from the Jet garage in Coatham Mundeville but the card was declined.

"In police interviews he said he had attempted to use the card but denied stealing the £50 cash.

"He said he saw a jacket on the floor and a wallet next to it, and he didn't know what to do, he considered handing it in but took it. He accepts he was stupid but sorry for what he had done.

"He said he was not a thief, that he considered that the lowest of the low, and he was egged on by his friends.

"He kept the wallet in his bedroom and said he was going to hand himself into police."

The court was told that had Kempsell used the card immediately rather than later in the day, giving him time to consider his actions, he would have been cautioned rather than charged as he has no previous convictions.

Rory Todd, mitigating on behalf of Kempsell, said: "He has lost his good character now. He is adamant he didn't take cash from the wallet."

"He was also adamant he had not forced a locker open. He is not the type of person who goes rifling through people's belongings in changing rooms.

"He has acted very foolishly, acted impulsively, but he has never been in trouble before. At that time he had left the Army and wasn't working but has subsequently got work."

He was given an 18-month conditional discharge.