20-year-old Leonard-Valter Tudor was caught shoplifting less than 24 hours after entering Britain.
The Romanian arrived in the United Kingdom and went to Yorkshire to meet someone.
The father-of-one was then caught trying to steal items worth £508 from TK Maxx in Nottingham.
Tudor attempted to use a foil-lined bag to stop the signals of security tags on the goods. He was arrested at the scene and appeared in court where he was detained for 16 weeks.
According to Nottingham Live, an accomplice avoided arrest.
Prosecutor Sanjay Jerath told the court: “In interview, the defendant said he landed in the country the day before. He went to an address in Doncaster intending to find some work.
“He was approached by another Romanian man he doesn’t know. There was the suggestion of employment in Nottingham of taking items from a shop and accepts he was opening bags and taking items.
“He had a foil lined bag and takes full responsibility for his action.”
A Romanian interpreter helped Tudor in court. He admitted theft and using a foil-lined bag. District Judge Leo Pyle sent the 20-year-old to a young offenders’ institution for 16 weeks and ordered the migrant to pay a £115 government surcharge.
“The sentence should be a deterrent in your particular case,” he told Tudor.
Neil O’Sullivan, mitigating, said that the 20-year-old just became a father and had the prospect of work in South Yorkshire.
“Simply the promise of money led him to commit these offenses. As one can imagine, he had no income whatsoever as he only landed on Friday,” he said.
“He was detained straight away by security staff. All the items were recovered,” the defense lawyer added.
“This was an enterprise he entered into with some reluctance, it is fair to say. In some ways, it was borne out of necessity.”
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