Stole mobile phone

A Buxton man stole a mobile phone from the coat of a fellow drinker in a town centre pub, a court heard.

Alison Caven was in the Queen’s Head on Buxton Market Place on February 15 when she put her coat down, High Peak Magistrates’ Court heard.

Alexander Stoodley, who was also in the pub, was seen on CCTV to take the jacket with him into the toilets before leaving without it, prosecutor Jennifer Fitzgerald said.

The jacket was later found on the floor of one of the cubicles but Ms Caven’s mobile phone was missing.

Stoodley was identified and found in the Level 2 nightclub. Police arrived and he was found to have Ms Caven’s Samsung Galaxy phone in his pocket. In interview, he said he thought it was his own jacket and his own phone.

He denied theft but was found guilty after trial.

Ian Baker, defending, said: “There was no planning, no targeting of the victim.”

Stoodley, 28, of Chapel Milton, was given a 12-month community order with 60 hours’ unpaid work. He must pay £400 costs and a £60 surcharge.