A THIEF'S loot "exceeded his wildest expectations" when he snatched a clairvoyant's expensive briefcase from a car seat, York Crown Court heard.

Inside the £200 bag was £17,300 in used £50, £20 and £10 notes. But Paul Darcy, 26, did not get to keep the money because two men pursued and caught him.

"He is a big man. It was pretty courageous," said Judge Paul Hoffman of Simon Pollontine and Abdu Naeb, after seeing Darcy in the dock at York Crown Court. He ordered a £200 reward for each of the two pursuers. He also called for police to investigate why consultant clairvoyant Nasim Mohammed had £17,300 in used notes.

"This was an opportunistic offence," he told Darcy. "You knew he had something in the bag, but not what it actually was, which must have exceeded your wildest expectations."

He jailed him for 21 months. Darcy, of Thistleton Court, Marygate, York, pleaded guilty to theft and three deceptions involving taking goods from York shops and exchanging them at refund counters for other goods and vouchers without leaving the shops.

Simon Reevell, prosecuting, said Mr Mohammed was taking the briefcase from his Goodramgate premises to his car parked nearby when it fell open and money fell out. He returned to the premises to refasten it, then reached his car and put it in the back seat. Then Darcy pounced.

Released on bail, he visited three York shops on a single day when he took items from the shelves and took them to the refund counter to exchange for other goods or vouchers. But a store detective trailed him and he was arrested.

For Darcy, Richard Scott said he turned to crime when a car accident ended his career in the building trade. He stole to feed himself, not for drugs.

Updated: 09:40 Saturday, October 20, 2001