Shoplifter caught applying for job at shop he stole from

Lager thief, Simon Holden, was charged with theft after the ASDA manager in Colne identified him as a shoplifter during a job interview, a court heard. Unemployed Holden, 22, who was discovered to have been in breach of a suspended jail term, had applied to be a shelf stacker at the Lancashire Asda.

When he was invited in for an interview, the local manager recognised his face, Burnley Crown Court heard. The unnamed manager then checked CCTV footage from earlier that week and identified Holden stealing four boxes of lager worth £40 from the same store.

When confronted during the interview, he fled - and stole two more boxes of beer as ran through the front door. Police discovered Holden had been in breach of a suspended jail term for stealing a laptop during a house burglary.



Holden admitted theft and an unrelated offence of resisting arrest. He was jailed for a year, but walked free after the term was suspended for two years. The judge, Mr Recorder David Williams, told him: "The choice is yours - you either waste your life or make something of it."

One store insider said outside court: "It must have taken some brass neck for this man to apply for a job at the store he stole from just days earlier.

''Normally employers have to check job references when it comes to looking at CVs - not check CCTV footage to see if their candidates might have been spotted shoplifting there a few days beforehand. As applying for jobs go this one ranks with having the most breath taking cheek ever.''