A SHOPLIFTER who fled empty-handed from a Carlisle Sainsbury’s store was trying to help a friend whose benefits were stopped, a court heard.
Mark Proudfoot, 37, attempted to steal laundry products and food – valued at £83 – from the Church Street store on February 24 but he ran away, abandoning his trolley full of stsolen goods, when he heard staff calling the police.
At the city’s Rickergate court, he admitted theft.
Staff watched him as he pushed a trolley full of goods past the tills and out of the store, making no attempt to pay. The court heard his background included a robbery, for which he was given a 40 month jail term at the city’s crown court in 2019.
His record also included 35 previous thefts and kindred offences.
“He committed the offence because he was helping out a friend,” said defence lawyer John Smith. “She had found herself in a situation where her benefits had been suspended, not through any fault of hers but because it was a political matter because of the place where she was born.”
Mr Smith said the theft had been a “one-off incident.”
District Judge John Temperley imposed a £120 fine on Proudfoot, of Newtown Road, Carlisle, along with £85 costs and a £48 victim surcharge.
