Estate agent "stole sex toy"

An estate agent ended up in court after stealing a sex toy he found in a lingerie drawer at a house he was trying to sell. When Luke Patrick McCarthy went to a woman`s flat in Birmingham last October to show prospective buyers around, he arrived early and let himself in, Coventry Crown Court heard. Lucy Allen, prosecuting, said the 22-year-old went through a lingerie drawer in the woman`s bedroom and found a vibrator, which he hid. The vibrator has never been recovered and McCarthy, of Bradfield Road, Great Barr, Birmingham, pleaded guilty to theft at an earlier hearing. Andrew Evans, in mitigation, said: `The theft was committed in a moment of panic when the prospective buyer rang the doorbell and he was caught out.` Recorder Nigel Daly said he was convinced McCarthy, who lost his job as a result of the incident, would not do anything similar again and sentenced him to an 80-hour community punishment order. He was told to pay 20 pounds compensation and 450 pounds costs.