Shoplifter who moved to town from Lithuania ‘had no ambition of becoming a criminal’

A 47-year-old who went on a two-day stealing spree claimed he “didn’t come to the UK to become a thief”.Guntis Osans, of Gaywood Road in Lynn, admitted three counts of theft from a shop when he appeared at the town’s magistrates’ court on Thursday.He was subsequently handed a fine for committing the offences.

Prosecutor Abdul Khan said that on September 4, Osans entered Home Bargains in Lynn, took two cans of cider worth £2.44 and left without paying.The next day, he went into Food Warehouse on the Campbells Meadow industrial estate and stole a bottle of red wine worth £6.25.He then entered QD Stores in the town centre and pinched two more bottle of alcohol worth £3.98. Mitigating, duty solicitor George Sorrell said: “The defendant comes from Lithuania. He came to live in this country with his mother, find work and have a better standard of living.“He tells me he had no ambition of coming here to become a criminal. He is not an accomplished thief.”Osans was fined £133, and will pay a victim surcharge of £53 and court costs of £85.