A 25-YEAR-OLD man tried to grab cash off a woman as she made a withdrawal from a cash machine.

Blackburn magistrates heard that despite there being a ‘tug-of-war’ over the money and the would-be thief only left after his victim screamed a second time, the offence fell just short of robbery.

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Sabir Ahmed, of Skye Crescent, Blackburn, pleaded guilty to theft of £100 from Joanne Haydock. He was remanded on bail for the preparation of a pre-sentence report.

Catherine Allan, prosecuting, said Miss Haydock was at the cash machine at Morrisons and was in the process of withdrawing cash when she felt someone standing directly behind her.

“She believed he was either trying to see her pin number or steal her money,” said Miss Allan. “She grabbed her money as it came out of the machine but the defendant tried to pull it out of her hand.”

Miss Allan said the victim screamed but the defendant didn’t say a word as he continued to try and pull the money out of her hand.

“She screamed a second time which had the desired effect and he let go and walked off,” said Miss Allan.

Graeme Parkinson, defending, said Ahmed had been diagnosed as suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and hadn’t been taking his medication at the time.

“I accept its not a routine theft and it is fairly close to robbery,” said Mr Parkinson. “It’s not violence because there was no threat of violence or actual violence.”