A man has been remanded in custody after obtaining a hotel room on Shetland with no intention of paying – and giving a false name to police.
Martin Maughan, of Bowling Back Lane in Bradford, pleaded guilty to obtaining a room worth £130 at Scalloway Hotel on Friday without paying when he appeared at Lerwick Sheriff Court yesterday.
He also admitted driving a vehicle without insurance and while disqualified at Lerwick’s Westerloch Drive the same day.
Maughan and his partner, 23-year-old Kathleen Boswell of the same Bradford address, pretended to police that his name was Philip Walton with the intention of perverting the course of justice.
Procurator fiscal Keith Adam said their room at Scalloway Hotel was found “in some disarray” with some damage inflicted, though that was a matter between the accused and the hotel.
Police stopped the vehicle Maughan was driving because it was marked “high maintenance”, at which point he pretended to be his uncle, under whose name the vehicle is registered.
Defence agent Tommy Allan admitted his client had a record for driving while disqualified.
In relation to the hotel, Allan said the couple’s intention had been to go back, but he accepted they had left without paying.
The couple had spent three days in custody and honorary sheriff Malcolm Bell agreed to grant bail to Boswell.
But he decided to keep Maughan on remand until the pair appear for sentencing on September 14.