Jail for prolific thief who tried to sell stolen iPhones to victim’s brother

A prolific thief broke into a phone shop, stole 22 iPhones and tried to sell them to another store which the victim’s brother owned.Andrew Yallop smashed the door of Mobile Zone on Broad Street in Lynn on Wednesday, April 30 and took the mobile phones, worth £7,875.He then travelled to Peterborough and attempted to sell the stolen goods to a mobile phone shop there.

However, things soon backfired for Yallop when the person he tried to make the sale to was the brother of the person he stole from.Yallop appeared at Lynn Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, where he admitted a total of nine offences.Appearing in court remotely from HMP Norwich, he was sentenced to 30 weeks in prison by magistrates. He had admitted numerous shoplifting offences, as well as stealing a Mercedes in Wisbech on April 7 and assaulting a police officer.Yallop’s spree of offences started on March 11, when he went into Home Bargains in Lynn and stole alcohol worth £9.98. On April 7, Yallop, previously of The Grove in Grimston, stole the keys of a Mercedes parked on Old Market Street in Wisbech.He was seen on CCTV driving it away. Yallop was eventually tracked down by the police, where he lied to them and said he bought the car for £1,200 in cash.Police arrested Yallop – but when they tried to place him in handcuffs, he lunged towards the police officer and “became aggressive”. Yallop then headbutted another officer.On April 19, Yallop was seen leaving a BP petrol station in Wisbech.An officer was at the station filling his car with petrol. Shop staff told them that Yallop had stolen various groceries totalling £17.47.Police found Yallop hiding behind a wall and arrested him. On April 22, Yallop stole beer and energy drinks worth £19 from Tesco Express on Wootton Road in Lynn.The next day, Yallop went to Sainsbury’s in Hunstanton and stole more beer.Yallop has a lengthy criminal record, having previously committed 112 offences.On April 16, he was charged with stealing laptops from another shop in the town centre. In mitigation, Ruth Johnson told magistrates that Yallop had a difficult upbringing.She said he grew up in care and had moved home 130 times between the ages of ten and 18.“It is fair to say, out of everybody I have represented, he has one of the most difficult backgrounds I have encountered,” Ms Johnson said.The solicitor said that Yallop has never used his background as an excuse for his offending. She said the reason for his recent spree was a cancer diagnosis.“This year, he has been diagnosed with cancer in the joints. It is not life-threatening and he is having treatment,” Ms Johnson said.“It is fair to say it has been completely life-changing information for him. He is only 32.”Ms Johnson explained that Yallop had been in police custody since Monday and that his time there has made him “come to terms that things need to change”.Alongside his prison sentence, Yallop was ordered to pay compensation to all of the shops he stole from.