Jail for shoplifting Russian who drank vodka in the aisles at Bidston Tesco

Jul 30 2008 by Laura Jones, Birkenhead News

A VODKA swigging Russian shoplifter was jailed by Birkenhead magistrates.

Evaldas Panavas, 33, was given a six-week sentence for stealing goods from Bidston Tesco. Staff said they saw Panavas pick up a bottle of vodka, open it with his teeth and drink from it in the aisles of the shop on July 23.

He was then seen to pick up cooked meats and more alcohol, stowing the goods in his back pack and pockets, before making off to the store’s toilets. Staff followed Panavas to confront him, and he admitted stealing the £27.52 haul.

Speaking through an interpreter at Birkenhead magistrates’ court, Panavas gave a London address but said he was in Wirral because he had been “told to go to the seaside”.

Magistrates were told that the Russian had been convicted of a string of similar shoplifting offences elsewhere in the UK.

He pleaded guilty.