London, Jan 11 (ANI): A man stole a huge bass from an aquarium in Guernsey, and pretended that he had caught it to win a sea fishing contest.
Cheating Matthew Clark, 29, took the first prize, worth 800 pounds, and proudly posed for photos clutching the 13lb whopper that he had pinched on the final day of the competition, the Mirror reported.
But a rival angler recognised the monster fish following a trip to the aquarium in Guernsey and police were called in to investigate.
Clark was given 100 hours' community service after admitting burglary and fraud.
He was allowed to walk free after taking a two-year oath of good behaviour. He will face jail if he breaks the terms.
Clark owed the manager of the island's St Peter Port Aquarium 1,500 pounds, so he hatched a plan to break into the aquarium, steal the bass and then return it while paying off some of his debt.
But, when the truth came out and the contest organizers alerted the police, the thief panicked and sold the bass to a fishmonger.
Police matched the head of the fish carcass to the missing bass and then arrested Clark.
After failing to reel in officers with a story about catching the fish at a nearby spot, he confessed in full. (ANI)
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