Straight From The Horse's Mouth!

Stephen Sikpi, 23, singled out dozing passengers on late night services between London Liverpool Street and Southend Victoria. He stole expensive belongings including iPhones and iPads and even an entire rucksack.

He was eventually caught after a tracker was identified on a stolen iPhone which led police to his girlfriend’s home.

Thanks be to technology!

Elizabeth Connolly, mitigating, said the first theft had been entirely opportunistic and he had no previous offences. He had only received a caution in the past.

She said: “Because he got away with it he then with it he then disengaged with reality, with the reality of what he was doing was wrong, the reality of the affect (sic) on the victims.”

There you have it - what better proof that short, lenient sentences don't work?

She said that he had difficulty “engaging” with his probation officer and so had probably not given the best impression in his pre-sentence report.

Translation: chippy little scumbag smarted off to his probation officer because, who cares what goes down in those reports anyway?

He was jailed for eight months. No order was made for costs or compensation due to his circumstances.

That'll teach him!