'Ashamed' man stole newspapers

An embarrassed man who stole every copy of his local newspaper from a shop to stop his friends reading about his drunken antics has been jailed. Police and firefighters were called to Mark Parker's smoke-filled house after he fell asleep with a pizza in the oven while drunk, Rhondda magistrates heard.

But worried the story would appear in the press, Parker, 26, of Treherbert, stole 40 copies of the Rhondda Leader. He admitting theft and was jailed for three months.

Parker was worried his friends would "take the mickey" out of him if the 999 call-out hit the headlines. Prosecutor David Dhorn said: "Parker went to his local Spar shop where the paper was on display on a stand outside.



"He took all 40 copies and went to his home with the intention of destroying them. He was embarrassed because police had been called to his home and found him semi-conscious in the smoke-filled kitchen. He had left a pizza in the oven and had fallen asleep after drinking heavily."

Magistrates heard Parker was spotted taking the bundle of papers from the shop later that week. Mr Dhorn said: "Police went to his home and found him with a copy of the Rhondda Leader newspaper in his hand and a bundle of papers at the top of the stairs."

Maredudd Davies, defending, said: "He took the newspapers to prevent local people from seeing reports of the fire service and police being called to his home. He was in a confused state of mind." But the court heard the story never appeared in the paper and his friends would never have found out - until he was arrested for stealing the newspapers, worth about £30.