MAGISTRATES have granted bail to a man who stole from a Carlisle shop the day after he failed to appear in court to answer a burglary charge.
Kurdish national Mustafa Mohammed, 24, who is presently awaiting the outcome of an asylum claim, admitted both the burglary – committed in the Northeast – and a theft from the Wigton Road branch of B&M in Carlisle.
The city’s Rickergate court heard that the burglary happened at 3am on September 11, when CCTV images recorded the defendant’s raid of a phone shop in Wellington Square, Stockton-on-Tees.
His face hidden by a balaclava, Mohammed removed a hammer from his rucksack and used it to smash his way through a glass door.
Once inside, he pulled over a glass cabinet and removed headphones, a phone charging cable, and a power bank.
He then left after placing the stolen goods into his rucksack.
Police arrested the defendant a short distance away, finding the stolen goods and the hammer in his rucksack. He was due to appear before magistrates in the area on October 1 but failed to appear.
The following day, he was caught shoplifting at the Carlisle B&M store. He was detained at the scene by security staff.
David Wales, defending, said the defendant, of Richmond Green, Carlisle, is a Kurdish national who had been living in Iraq, but it was not an environment where he felt himself to be safe.
As an asylum seeker, he is prohibited from working. “He gets £40 per week to keep body and soul together,” said the lawyer.
“His mitigation is that he did not want to steal. But neither did he want to starve. If he is remanded in custody today, he will lose his accommodation and all the meagre property that he has been able to gather since being in this country.”
Magistrates adjourned sentence until October 24, ordering a pre-sentence report. Mohammed was given bail on condition that he remains at his current address and does not enter any B&M store in Carlisle.