Thief caught out when phone rang in his shoe

A student who denied stealing an iPhone was exposed as a thief when the device started ringing in his shoe. When Harold Penn-Timity was confronted by the victim and his friends, as well as an off duty policeman, he thought he could brazen it out that the thief wasn't him. That was until someone rang the number of the missing mobile and the phone could be heard ringing from Penn-Timity's footwear and he was promptly arrested.

At Luton Crown Court the 25-year-old pleaded guilty to a single charge of theft. Douglas Page, prosecuting, told how on November 10 last year in Fitzroy Court, a halls of residence at Luton University, Penn-Timity was confronted by a group of young men over the theft of the iPhone 5. In fact a passing off duty policeman saw a group of males surrounding the defendant and decided to go and investigate. One of the young men present shouted out "That twat robbed me - look in his back pocket."



Mr Page said the off duty officer discovered the group suspected Penn-Timity of stealing the phone, but he was denying any responsibility and saying "I haven't got it." The prosecutor said it was then that the owner of the phone asked one of his friends to call his number. "It could be heard ringing and it was found in Penn-Timity's shoe," said Mr Page. The court was told he said "I didn't take it on purpose. I was going to give it back."

Penn-Timity claimed he had come across it and picked it up and then been frightened to hand it in thinking he would be accused of stealing and kicked out of the university where he was on a media course. Tim Nutley, defending, described it as a "opportunistic offence" and out of character. Judge Peter Wright sentenced Penn-Timity to a 12 month community order and told him he must perform 80 hours of unpaid work.