A PROLIFIC thief who stole a bar worker’s handbag in a Carlisle pub has been jailed for three months after he admitted his latest offence.

But a lawyer for 44-year-old Peter Martin Vickers told a district judge at the city’s Rickergate court that the defendant took the handbag from behind the bar at The Cumberland Inn in Botchergate because he thought it belonged to his friend’s girlfriend.

But after hearing the case, District Judge John Temperley said that he struggled to accept that explanation.

Malcolm Isherwood, prosecuting, said the offence happened on September 25 when Vickers went into The Cumberland Inn. While there, he saw a member of staff put her bag on a shelf underneath the bar – something that was recorded by the pub’s CCTV.

“The defendant was seen to go round the side of the bar, lean over and then pick up the bag off the shelf under the bar,” said Mr Isherwood.

“You can then see the chain handle of the bag down from underneath his jacket and he then tucks it up quickly. The total value of the items stolen was £760 should compensation become an issue.”

The court heard that the defendant last appeared before a court on March 17 for theft from a shop, going equipped for theft, and breach of a Criminal Behaviour Order. He was given a number of jail terms for his offending.

Anthony Wilson, defending, said that on the evening in question the defendant had been out drinking with a friend and the friend’s girlfriend. “She lost her bag in one of the pubs,” said Mr Wilson.

Having seen the bag, said Mr Wilson, the defendant had then “in a drunken stupor”, reached under the bar thinking that it may be the one that his friend’s girlfriend had lost.

Mr Wilson added: “He then took it outside and left it on a table. He didn’t take anything from the bag.

“But he was stupid enough to leave it on the table in the outside area. He should not have taken the bag. It has transpired that it was actually the bag of his ex-girlfriend’s daughter, so he will have some explaining to do when he next bumps into his ex-girlfriend.”

Mr Wilson said the defendant, of Deepdale Drive, Morton Park, was currently taking the heroin substitute methadone on prescriptions and working with the drug and alcohol agency Unity.

The lawyer added: “He’s not taking any street drugs and the bulk of his offending has been to acquire drugs. This is the first time he’s had his own property, given to him by a housing association. He’s concerned that he may lose that property.”

District Judge Temperley said the offence was aggravated by the defendant’s bad previous criminal record.

The judge added: “This appears to be a pattern of offending.” He jailed the defendant for 12 weeks and imposed a £128 victim surcharge. In 2019, Vickers, 44, of Carlisle, received a criminal behaviour order in 2019 after a shoplifting spree netted him goods worth £2,500.