Grenadier guardsman blows £4.5k on lap dancers and booze… using soldier pal’s nicked debit card
Judge sentenced the soldier to 95 hours unpaid work and ordered him to pay back the stolen money
A GRENADIER Guardsman blew £4,500 at a lap dancing club with another soldier’s debit card.
Thomas McLaughlin, 21, and two comrades ogled girls and guzzled champagne and vodka after asking victim Matthew Massey to use his card and PIN number to borrow £20.
He confronted hungover McLaughlin at Wellington Barracks, near Buckingham Palace, the next day and found his card and receipts from Sophisticats in Marylebone in his trousers.
McLaughlin admitted theft at Westminster magistrates’ court.
But his barrister asked District Judge Timothy Godfrey , not to sentence him to more than 99 hours of unpaid work — saying the Army will dismiss someone who gets 100 hours or more.
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Judge Godfrey gave McLaughlin a one-year community order with 95 hours of unpaid work and ordered him to repay the cash.
The guardsman faces Army disciplinary action but is likely to keep his job.
Two other soldiers have been charged but deny any offence.