Thief swaps Jamaican beach for prison cell

DAVID Warden was just minutes away from boarding a plane for Jamaica when he was arrested for stealing a pair of designer sunglasses from an airport store. So instead of spending a week lazing on a sun-kissed beach, 33-year-old Warden spent the next seven

DAVID Warden was just minutes away from boarding a plane for Jamaica when he was arrested for stealing a pair of designer sunglasses from an airport store.

So instead of spending a week lazing on a sun-kissed beach, 33-year-old Warden spent the next seven days languishing in a prison cell in Leicester.

And on Tuesday he was given a 49-day suspended jail sentence, for offences of theft, obstructing police, threatening a night club manager and assaulting a police officer.

For the next three months he will be electronically tagged, and must stay at home every night between 8pm and 7am.

Warden had paid cash for a pair of Versace glasses at Gatwick airport on the morning he stole a pair of £235 specs from Sun Glass Hut, prosecutor Laura Mardell told Fenland magistrates.

CCTV footage showed Warden carrying some glasses, and he was arrested at the boarding gate. He gave a false name, but was identified by an electronic finger print device.

Warden, of Belt Drove, Begdale, also admitted threatening the manager of Club 360 in Wisbech, Kevin Careless, and assaulting a police officer by spitting. He further admitted breaching a 60-hour community order imposed for the possession of heroin.

Solicitor Anita Waterman said Warden had been in a hurry to get to the airport boarding gate, and had enough money to pay for the stolen glasses.

"He picked them up and simply went," she said. "As a result of his behaviour at Gatwick he spent seven days in custody, instead of lying on a beach in Jamaica he has been staying in a prison cell in Leicester.