A SECOND penny pincher has been spotted helping himself to cash donated to charity in a Castle Park pond.

In April, the Gazette reported how an eagle-eyed resident had been filmed using a telescopic magnet to pick out money from the Imola pond, in Upper Castle Park.

Days later, Colchester Council park rangers nabbed the man and escorted him out out the park.

The issue was also reported to Essex Police.

Now, a second person has been spotted taking the money, which is pledged to the Friends of Castle Park charity.

The man was spotted shortly after 7.30pm on Monday as he paced around the pond before getting on his hands and knees to reach into the water.

Halstead Gazette: penny pinch.

Darius Laws, Colchester councillor for Castle ward, said: “It is getting beyond a joke now.

“I think we do need to start using a yellow card system.

“If you are caught doing this once, you would get a warning and if you are caught again then perhaps you’re banned from Castle Park.”

The Conservative, who alerted Colchester Council to the first pincher, added: “Fair enough, there are more important things the authorities have on their plate and people stealing change from a park pond is way down the priority list but Castle Park is one of the jewels in Colchester’s crown and we need to protect that.”

“I think the best thing will be when the park rangers are equipped with body worn cameras to capture this sort of thing.

“It will be very easy then to say to people who are doing that: ‘Look, we’ve got you on camera and if you do this again, we’ll be taking action.’”

The councillor also praised the resident who continues to monitor behaviour in the park.

He said: “I think it’s great that people take huge pride in what is on their doorstep and they watch out for this type of behaviour.

“Neither the rangers nor the police can be everywhere all of the time so someone like this really is the eyes and the ears for us and I applaud that.”

Colchester Council has been contacted for comment.