Phone thief caught after returning for charger

A THIEF who managed to steal a mobile phone was foiled when he returned to the scene of his crime – to steal a phone charger.

A THIEF who managed to steal a mobile phone was foiled when he returned to the scene of his crime – to steal a phone charger.

Tony Woodward pleaded guilty to stealing the phone, worth �107.99, from the Comet store in Huntingdon on September 27 last year.

He was seen loitering by the empty phone box by members of staff, but after realising he did not have the charger, hid the phone outside and entered the store a second time, whereupon shop staff called the police.

The 28-year-old is already serving a year-long prison sentence, handed down on November 10 last year, at HMP Peterborough.

Prosecutor John Goodier told Huntingdon magistrates on Thursday (January 6) that Woodward had a serious drug problem at the time of the offence, and had made full admissions in custody.

The theft should have been included on the list of offences to be taken into consideration when Woodward was sentenced, but Woodward had no recollection of the incident until police visited him in prison during their investigations.

Elaine Havord, mitigating, said that it was “disappointing” the incident had not been dealt with at Woodward’s previous sentencing.

She said that Woodward had been making good progress in prison, had qualified as an industrial cleaner and was helping other prisoners with their reading and writing. He has a property in Ramsey that he expects to move into at the end of his sentence.

Magistrates acknowledged that the matter should have been dealt with at first sentencing, and imposed a seven-day custodial sentence on Woodward, to run concurrently with his existing sentence.