A Penrith factory worker who had an illegally-held knife in his bag after being caught shoplifting at a B&M Bargains store has been spared immediate prison.
Florin-andrei Pirlea, 20, was spotted with another man inside the English Street outlet in Carlisle at around 4.10pm on June 4.
The men selected a Bluetooth speaker and an electric drill, left without paying but were detained by a security guard outside and the goods were recovered.
Pirlea had stolen the £35 drill. When arrested and searched, a lock knife with a two-inch blade was found in the front pocket of a bag he was carrying.
“He said he was sorry and that it had been an impulsive act,” prosecutor Pam Ward told Carlisle Magistrates’ Court. “He uses the knife for his lunch at work and forgot it was in his bag.”
Pirlea, of Alexandra Road, Penrith, admitted theft and illegal blade possession in public. He had no previous convictions.
The court heard the Romanian national worked at a poultry factory near Penrith and had not known it was an offence to possess the knife in the way that he had.
“I would submit to you his is a case of ignorance rather than malevolence,” Tariq Khawam, defending, said in his address to magistrates.
“The problem is that the sentencing guidance is that this is a custodial sentence. When I explained that to the defendant he was shocked and, I think, slightly traumatised by that advice.”
Concluding that Pirlea was remorseful, magistrates suspended a two-month prison sentence for six months, and ordered him to pay £213 costs and surcharge. The knife must be forfeited.
