Express
March 2, 2014
MIGRANT criminals are escaping community sentences, like unpaid gardening work, by claiming their English is too poor to understand health and safety instructions.
The practice was exposed yesterday when Romanian, Simon Calin, avoided justice because he was unable to follow basic advice, sparking fury among campaigners opposed to mass UK immigration.
It is standard procedure for probation service staff to tell offenders to wear protective gloves and to hold equipment properly to avoid injury.
But Calin, 37, who admitted stealing 54 bottles of whisky from a supermarket, was let off a community sentence when his lawyer told the court his English was so bad, he could not follow basic advice.
The crook claimed the theft was his “first mistake” in nine days since arriving in the UK – 24 hours after borders opened to Romanian migrants.
He went to a Tesco store in Barrow, Cumbria, loaded his trolley with the Famous Grouse worth £1,108 and placed bags and paper on top in a bid to hide them.
But the married father was seen on CCTV piling the haul into a car – and arrested.
Furness Magistrates’ Court was told the probation service had assessed Calin for litter picking, fence painting or gardening, but had decided his English was too poor.