Prize for youngster who handed in wallet containing £1,300

Published on Thursday 5 November 2009 08:52

HE MAY well be the most honest teenager in the Lothians.

When David McEwan came across a brown leather wallet packed with dozens of crisp notes amounting to more than 1,300, he did not hesitate to do the decent thing.

The 15-year-old from Penicuik has now been rewarded for his actions after receiving an Honesty Award from the Penicuik Crime Prevention Panel.

David discovered the wallet lying on the pavement near his home on Woodside Drive and immediately handed it to his mum, Louise Lumsden, who contacted the police.

The fourth year pupil at Penicuik High said: "It was a really straightforward decision – just hand it in. I thought the person would have probably worked hard for the money and I wouldn't have liked that to happen to me.

"I was surprised to find a wallet lying about with that amount of money in it."

Police were able to reunite the wallet with its owner – a Sutherland man who had gone to Penicuik to buy a car and visit family – and put David's name forward for a Penicuik Crime Prevention Panel Honesty Award.

Panel secretary Jack McGowan, who presented David with the framed certificate and a 15 voucher for Borders, said: "This is only the second honesty award we have given out.

"In this day and age, when youngsters seem to be maligned for misbehaving, it's good to see an example of this sort of honesty. We wanted to show we at the panel appreciated his actions."

David added: "I wasn't expecting anything like that, I just thought I had handed it in and that would be it.

"I was totally surprised. It felt good because I handed somebody's money in and I was rewarded for doing that – it is good to know that somebody has recognised it."

The wallet contained no identification but around 1,350 and was found by David in July. The owner of the wallet also gave the youngster, a member of the Penicuik 869 Squadron ATC, a 10 per cent reward of around 130.

Miss Lumsden, 39, a mother-of-two, said: "David was delighted because he wasn't expecting anything – that was really kind of the man.

"David said if it had been myself or his gran that had lost the money then he would hope that somebody else would have handed it in.

"He also said 'what if it had been someone's holiday money?'. We couldn't have lived with ourselves if we kept it – we never even thought about it."

David has a part-time job at homewares store Castle Warehouse and has compered at fundraising nights for Marie Curie Cancer Care.

His mum added: "The police praised David for his honesty. I'm just really proud of him – me and his dad Colin. It shows he can do the right thing."