A MAN stole a mobile phone from an unconscious drug addict and sold it for cash because he did not have any money for food, Worcester Magistrates Court was told.

Ben Kreisler also stole alcohol from the Co-op in St John’s, Worcester, in a bid to earn some money.

Sarah Stock, prosecuting, said Kreisler went into the store on July 9 and July 20, taking a bottle of whisky worth £23.99 on the first occasion, which was not recovered. Mrs Stock said the 27-year-old stole two bottles of vodka worth a total of £39.98 during the second theft, but was stopped and searched before he could leave the store. She said Kreisler had been talking to Andrew King on Trinity Passage on July 11, when Mr King fell asleep.

Mrs Stock said when he woke up he found his Orange Sydney mobile phone, worth £30, was missing. The next day, Kreisler sold the phone for £10 at Cash Generator and also signed a document falsely claiming it was his.

He was later arrested and interviewed by police where he admitted both thefts from Co-op and said he took the bottles to sell on for money to buy food.

Kreisler also confessed to stealing the phone, saying he knew Mr King was a homeless heroin addict and on drugs at the time he met him. When Mr King fell asleep, he took the phone. Kreisler, of Blakefield Road, St John’s, Worcester, pleaded guilty to three charges of theft and one charge of fraud by false representation.

Susie Duncan, defending, said her client fully admitted the offences and had stolen the items because his ben- efit payments had stopped, but they had now been reinstated. She said Kreisler had begun to turn his life around after being released from prison last year and was voluntarily attending Pathways after years of battling heroin addiction. Mrs Duncan said he was now off the drug and no longer needed a meth-adone script and was expecting a child with his girlfriend in November.

Magistrates instructed the Probation Service to carry out an all options pre-sentence report on Kreisler before making a decision on his punishment.

He was released on conditional bail to return to Worcester Magistrates Court on August 15 for sentencing.