Worcester heroin addict's £1,000 Waterstones comics heist

Kirt Jagger of Sansome Place, Worcester admitted a string of thefts from Worcester shops Waterstones, M&S and Iceland when he appeared before city magistrates on Thursday. The thefts included meat which could not be resold because it had been out of the fridge for too long.

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The 41-year-old admitted five thefts in total: theft of £78.99 of meat (eight joints of beef) from M&S on January 13; theft of comic books 'of value unknown' from Waterstones on August 18 last year; theft of items of value unknown from M&S on October 20 last year; theft of various items from Iceland to the value of £80 on December 6 last year; stealing more items of value unknown, again from Iceland on December 17 last year.

Jagger sold the comics on to Out of This World in The Shambles Gallery, the business losing out when the comics were taken back. They lost out to the tune of £200 (the stock the business still had to hand over, the prosecution said).

GUILTY: Kirt Jagger is battling a heroin addiction

The court heard how Waterstones had to employ an investigator to look into the thefts.

Owen Beale, prosecuting, asked for compensation, including for the stolen meat. He said: "I would not be prepared to buy something that had been away from chilling for any period of time. I would be asking, in those circumstances, for compensation." Mr Beale said Jagger was seen by a police officer stealing the meat from M&S which led to his arrest.

"In respect of all of this, he was perfectly frank with the officer that he was stealing in order to fund his addiction" said Mr Beale.

LOSS: The loss to Waterstones could have been as much as £1,000

Mr Beale said: "I can't quantify the loss for Waterstones but it would have been significant. The loss is somewhere around £1,000."

Jagger was last before the court for breach of a community order in 2019.

His solicitor, Askara Rana, asked that he be given maximum credit for his early guilty pleas and told the court Jagger had made 'full and frank admissions' to officers.

She said he had an issue with heroin misuse. "No threats were advanced or force used" she said.

Ms Rana said he had been 'homeless for a while' and 'had not had the right support in place'. She explained that around a year and a half ago his marriage broke down.

"That sent him into a downward spiral. He was sofa surfing and living on the streets" she said.

CASE: Worcester Magistrates Court where Jagger entered his guilty pleas

She said he had volunteered information about the thefts when stopped in Waterstones when he told a shop worker: "I have been selling them over the road to fund my drug addiction."

He was said to have told a Waterstones employee: "I'm sorry. I hate this."

Ms Rana told the bench: "He's remorseful for his actions."

Magistrates handed him a community order for eight weeks. This involves an eight week electronically monitored curfew between 7pm and 7am daily.

Jagger, who is on benefits, was not required to pay either costs or a victim surcharge, a statutory levy the courts are ordinarily obliged to impose. "We're going to prioritise compensation" said Michelle Edwards, chairman of the bench.

However, because of his limited means, magistrates were not able to impose as much compensation as had been requested by the Crown.

They awarded £75 in compensation to Iceland, £75 to Out of This World and £50 to Waterstones. The money will be deducted from Jagger's Universal Credit.