Tollgate Sainsbury's thief caught with £700 of champagne

Colchester Magistrates’ Court heard Romanian national George-Andrei Ion moved to the UK two months ago in a bid to find a job but almost instantly turned to crime.

The 18-year-old said “I am sorry” to the court after being caught trying to sneak out of the Sainsbury’s supermarket in Tollgate with £772.70 worth of champagne.

Rima Begum, prosecuting, stated Ion was with another unknown male when he entered the shop on June 25 and proceeded to head towards the alcohol aisle.

He then snatched numerous bottles of champagne before stashing them into a bag in his trolley and concealing them with packets of crisps.

Attempting to leave covertly, Ion removed a chain at an unmanned till and moved towards the exit, but his efforts were thwarted by hawk-eyed security guards and an off-duty police officer.

Attempted theft - Sainsbury's in Tollgate

“The security guard has confirmed he saw Ion speaking with another individual and he believes they were talking to each other through an ear piece,” said Ms Begum.

“They saw him talking but there was no one next to him.”

The prosecutor added the unknown second male attempted to distract the guard by asking where he had to pay and, when the raid was unsuccessful, he ran off.

Tia Ojo, mitigating, denied there was a “significant” level of planning for the crime but conceded there was a degree of preparation.

She said: “He tells me he attended alone and he does accept putting the champagne bottles in the trolley.

“It seems if he did attend with someone else he doesn’t want to disclose any information about that.

“He accepts if he wasn’t stopped by the security officers he would’ve walked out the door.”

Ion, of Kingston Road, Ilford, was ordered to undertake 50 hours of unpaid work by chairwoman of the bench Margaret Macallan and must pay £259 in a surcharge, fine and costs.