A groundsman at the Constant Spring Police Station who pleaded guilty to stealing $16,500 from a policeman's car was about to escape with a suspended sentence, but his luck changed when an officer revealed that it was not the first time he had stolen.

Charged with simple larceny is Maurice Brooks.

The court was told that on the day in question, Brooks, who works as a groundsman at the police station and usually washes the cars there, was asked to wash a policeman's car. It is alleged that he asked the policeman for the car key so he could clean the inside and was given the key.

The policeman, however, later discovered that money was missing from his car. It is alleged that the accused admitted that he had taken the money, but said he had intended to return it but forgot.

When he came to court yesterday, he told Resident Magistrate Judith Pusey that he had borrowed the money and was planning to return it. He was about to receive a three-month suspended sentence, but a policeman told the court that it was not the first time that the accused was caught stealing.

He was then ordered to serve three months in jail.