A VISITOR to the UK ripped security tags off alcohol bottles before stealing them from a Fenland supermarket.
Nerijus Kestenis came to Great Britain to visit a relative and was spotted on CCTV as he stole a couple of bottles of booze from the Tesco store in Wisbech.
Kestenis used a Lithuanian language interpreter at Fenland Magistrates’ Court to enter his guilty plea to shoplifting. He admitted stealing two bottles of alcohol on December 7.
“He came here for a few days to stay with a cousin,” solicitor Roger Glazebrook told Fenland magistrates. “He accepts he went to the store and took the tags off the bottles, that was a pre-cursor to stealing the drink.
“He has a son who is ill in Lithuania, and he wants to go back there soon.”
Kestenis, 28, who gave an address in Lime Avenue, Wisbech, was fined �85 and told to pay �85 costs and a �15 surcharge.
Co-defendant Giedrius Narkevicius, 27, of Lime Avenue, Wisbech, denied stealing two bottles of alcohol and is due to face trial before Fenland magistrates on March 2.
The same theft charge is faced by a third man; the case against Nerijus Liaudanskas, 33, of Kinderley Road, Wisbech, was adjourned until January 11.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here