A Sri Lankan court handed a one-year suspended jail term to a British man on Thursday after he pleaded guilty to stealing tickets for a crucial World Twenty20 cricket match involving England. Colombo Chief Magistrate Rashmi Singappuli said the sentence for 54-year-old Caesar Buller would be suspended for five years because he had no previous convictions.
He was arrested on September 30 after sales staff raised the alarm at a ticket sales outlet in the capital Colombo. Police said the man pocketed four books of tickets for the game between Sri Lanka and England, which saw England eliminated from the tournament. Buller had remained in custody since he pleaded guilty on October 2 as there was no one to post the million rupee ($7,700) bail ordered by court. He was released from custody after Thursday's judgement. Police told the court last week that the stolen tickets had a face value of 10,920 rupees (around $85), but most of them could not have been used as they had not yet been validated.