He hasn't got a clue what is going on and he just wants to get out and come home

Sheila Collinson

She said solicitors acting on her son's behalf had lodged an appeal with the High Court against the conviction and sentence.

She said: "He is just an ordinary bloke who would do anything for anyone, a doting father who loved his kids.

"Now he is in prison. He hasn't got a clue what is going on and he just wants to get out and come home."

Mrs Collinson said her granddaughter, Gemma, 11, was praying he could be freed so he could support her in a swimming competition on 4 May.

She said: "He used to take her all over for swimming competitions and she is missing him terribly."

Collinson was caught with his helper Terry Rostron, 24, also from Chorley, during an overnight trawl at a golf course in Leicester.

Going equipped

The two men had fished out 1,158 balls with nets and had placed them in two sacks, when police were alerted by a burglar alarm sounding in the clubhouse at Whetstone Golf Club.

They claimed the lost balls belonged to no-one and they were within their rights to take and sell them.

Leicester Crown Court heard Collinson had travelled the country for 10 years to pursue his business.

He was convicted of theft and of going equipped to steal.

Rostron, of Eaves Lane, Chorley, was also convicted of theft and going equipped to steal, but was conditionally discharged for 12 months and ordered to pay �400 costs.