by Tom Cotterill – Daily Mail
Two asylum seekers were caught shoplifting to order while waiting for their refugee claims to be processed by the Home Office.
Frans Epentrius, 29, and Tobias Iileka, 33, went on a spree targeting the John Lewis department store at the Bluewater shopping centre, near Stone, Kent.
The pair were busted on December 23 after eagle-eyed staff at the shopping mall spotted them acting suspiciously and detained them.
Iileka was found with a pair of wire cutters, while Epentrius was seen trying to stash a £550 Coach handbag in a brown paper bag he was holding.
After realising he had been clocked by staff, Epentrius went behind a column and placed the handbag on a different display.
‘They refused to wait for the police and they both ran off but were subsequently caught and taken to North Kent police station,’ prosecutor Lauren Kenny told Sevenoaks Magistrates’ Court.
After being charged, Iileka admitted shoplifting other items from John Lewis during an earlier visit. He claimed he had carried out the thefts to buy food and clothes.
The court heard Iileka had said that a friend had given him an order for things to steal, including designer perfumes, handbags and sunglasses.
Iileka, from Crawley, was charged with stealing items worth £1,356 from the Bluewater’s John Lewis outlet on December 4.
He was also charged with going equipped for theft by carrying wire cutters during the foiled shoplifting attempt on December 23.
Father-of-two Epentrius, from St Leonards, East Sussex, was charged with attempted shoplifting in relation to the failed ransacking on December 23.
The court heard Epentrius has two convictions for seven previous offences but none of a similar nature, while Iileka had one previous offence for failing to pay a fare on the railways.
Simon Patrick Pettican, representing Epentrius, said his client’s children were in Africa with 29-year-old’s family as the crook awaits the results of his UK asylum bid.
‘He is an asylum seeker at the moment and his claim is currently being processed. He has an excess alcohol (conviction) on file and he’s not working at the moment,’ he told the court, reported Kent Online.
‘He was getting cash from the Salvation Army but that has stopped and the friend he lives with is supporting him now.
‘It was a shot at getting some money (the thieving) and he has £419 outstanding on his fine’s account and that was for train evasion (not paying for the fare).’
District Judge Nadeem Holland placed Epentrius on a 12-month community order, with a requirement to complete 60 hours of unpaid work.
He also placed Iileka on a high-level community order for 18 months for his two offences, and ordered him to carry out 180 hours of unpaid work.
Iileka was not ordered to pay compensation for the items stolen on December 4, because of his lack of means.
MailOnline has approached the Home Office for comment regarding the pairs’ asylum applications.
