A MIDDLE-aged man who burgled a Carlisle factory has been sentenced by a judge who called his offending “completely unforgivable”.
Robert Joseph Anthony McKie, 46, stole a folding ladder, machinery parts, a drill and safety shoes when he entered the Linton Tweeds premises at Shaddongate illegally on October 12.
Staff noticed items were missing and, three days later, checked CCTV which showed McKie to be in unauthorised areas of the site. Coincidentally, as those checks were made on October 15, McKie was seen at a factory loading bay. When challenged he claimed to employees he was there legitimately to collect copper.
After falsely telling them he was on licence for attempted murder, and offering them money, he was allowed to walk away. However, he was later spotted by an off-duty police officer, arrested and picked out during an identification procedure.
McKie, of Peel Street, Carlisle, denied both burglary and theft on October 12, and burglary with intent to steal on October 15, but was convicted following a magistrates’ court trial.
“You were a nuisance, an incredible nuisance to them,” Judge Nicholas Barker told McKie of the factory staff as he passed sentence today (THURS). “If you were 18 that is one thing. But at 46 it is completely unforgivable.”
McKie was ordered to complete 100 hours’ unpaid work and rehabilitation as part of an 18-month community order. The judge told him: “Today is your chance. Take it.”
