Help for Heroes £800 thief tried to get stories of his charity theft removed from Argus website (From South Wales Argus)

Help for Heroes £800 thief tried to get stories of his charity theft removed from Argus website

5:10pm Monday 22nd October 2012 in News By Natalie Crockett

A WAR veteran who stole £800 while posing as a charity collector in Newport paid to try and get stories about his conviction removed from the Argus website.

Former soldier Benjamin Revell was jailed for eight months in July after admitting six counts of fraud and six counts of theft.

He stole the money after making six collections between May and July 2010 while dressed as a soldier from the Parachute Regiment.

Last month Revell, 24, posted on an online IT recruitment website offering £200 to anyone who could help with the removal of articles about him from the South Wales Argus, Media Wales and Hereford Times websites.

Days later the Argus was contacted by a man called Taras Yasinsky, who is listed as being an IT specialist in the Ukraine.

Mr Yasinsky said he was working on behalf of Revell and requested stories and pictures of him be removed.

He claimed the articles were "abusive" and "proofless", despite Revell being convicted after pleading guilty to the offences.

The email said legal action might be taken if the articles weren’t taken down.

When confronted by the Argus Revell, of Ludworth Avenue, Birmingham, admitted he wrote the advert.

He said: "I asked someone to see what they could do to remove the articles legally."

During his court case Revell said he was collecting the money for Help for Heroes and used a bucket and banner with the charity’s logo on. But it never received the money.

The former soldier, who was with the Royal Engineers until he was discharged in 2010, told police he was collecting legitimately and the uniform encouraged people to donate.

When the charity confirmed it had not received any money, Revell told police he was confused and had forgotten to pay it in.

Officers found £395 in an envelope at Revell’s home marked Help for Heroes and £100 in his collection bucket.