A Shanklin man who stole fish, wine and other goods from Tesco in Lake to feed himself has been handed a 12-month conditional discharge.
Mark Cording, 45, of Atherley Road in Shanklin, pleaded guilty to theft from a shop when he appeared at the Isle of Wight Magistrates Court on Tuesday 12th September 2023.
Prosecuting, Ann Smout told the court that at around 13:00 on 8th April 2023, a man was seen entering Tesco Express on Lake Hill wearing a long black coat.
For a total of 5 minutes, CCTV showed the male walking around the shop placing items such as coffee, fish, wine and sandwiches in the pockets of his coat – to the value of £50. The male made no attempts to pay as he left the shop.
Police reviewed the CCTV footage and quickly identified the male as Cording, noticing him because of his distinctive walk and limp.
Cording was previously in court back in February 2022 for theft from a shop.
Defending, Henry Farley said that his client has an issue with alcohol and that he was stealing to feed himself at the time of the offence in April.
Magistrates handed the 45-year-old a 12-month conditional discharge. He was also ordered to pay costs of £40, compensation of £49.90 and a £26 surcharge fee.
so, apparently an issue with alcohol justifies shoplifting food – I’m calling BS on that excuse.
perhaps he should have spent his sponging, bone idle, haven’t got a job, useless burden on society, benefit money on food.
the rest of us hard working taxpayers are paying more for groceries to offset the loss to the store, because of thieving, dead beat low lives like this.
You are not, in any way, a “hard working taxpayer”. You spend most of your day trolling this site.
If you are in work you need sacking for wasting so much of your employer’s time.
you know nothing mustapha – nothing whatsoever.
I expect you are one of these hand wringing, do gooding, leeches that make excuses for s cum like this
Exactly what I thought, well said.
Once again alcohol is blamed and the courts take pity.
The good news here is that he won’t be reproducing offspring as he is on the new male pill. It goes in his shoe and makes him limp ~ which is exactly how the police recognised him.
He didn’t steal teabags, baked beans and beef mince to feed himself – but wine, coffee and fish. Really?
Coffee, tea, why are they different? So tea is a necessity, but coffee is a luxury?
So he’s been stealing from Feb 22 to now and got away with it ?
Does this chap work I wonder? If he doesn’t have a job, perhaps he should consider getting one. He wouldn’t have to steal then to feed himself. Or, perhaps he should give up the booze, he’d have money to buy food.
I wonder how much he receives in benefits every month and what he spends it on? Yes, that’s an assumption on my part, and even if I’m wrong and he’s the world’s hardest working individual, there’s still no excuse for stealing.
I would suggest that maybe he should be availing himself of a foodbank, but I guess they don’t have bottles of wine in their food packages.
And, he has previous form, not just what’s mentioned in the article:
November 2020: failing to provide, driving without insurance, driving without a licence and failing to surrender to bail
July 2021: stealing £150 worth of items from Boots, possession of an offensive weapon, resisting arrest and assault by beating of an emergency worker
Fact is he’s stealing nobody else does it’s an offence whoever it is.
Taking wine to wash his meal down with shows he’s had a taste for luxury at some point.