A thief banned from all B&M Bargains stores in the country has been jailed for shoplifting from a Carlisle branch of the business.
And Romanian national Alexandru Balta, 42, initially appeared before a court in Wales on March 27. Balta had stolen more than £1,000-worth of goods from a Boots store in Llandudno. He was handed a suspended prison sentence for that offence.
Less than a fortnight later, on Saturday at around 3.30pm, Balta was arrested at the B&M outlet at St Nicholas Gate, off London Road in Carlisle.
A district judge at the city’s magistrates’ court heard this morning how Balta had walked around the premises and hidden items under his T-shirt and jacket.
Healthcare items valued at £88.99 had been taken. All of these were recovered.
At the time of the incident, Balta was banned from entering B&M stores nationwide under the terms of bail previously imposed by Northumbria Police.
In court, Balta, of Lord Street, Walsall, admitted theft. A defence solicitor said he had travelled to Carlisle with a friend on Saturday with the intention being that he would visit his aunt. He had stolen toothbrushes from B&M for himself along with items he wanted to give cousins as presents.
Balta had fully admitted his wrongdoing when interviewed by police.
District judge John Temperley activated the previously imposed nine-week suspended prison sentence in full, and tacked on three weeks, consecutively, for the Carlisle crime.
“You quite clearly are going around the country, well away from your home address, stealing on a regular basis,” the judge told Balta, “so custody is inevitable.”
