Wallsend thief breached curfew to steal vapes and chocolate

BBC News

07-03-2025

A serial thief who broke his curfew to burgle a shop and steal hundreds of vapes and chocolate bars has been jailed for nine months.Asim Kayani, 44, smashed a window at Heron Foods in Wallsend and stole £1,100 worth of goods in the early hours of 7 December, Newcastle Crown Court heard.When he was arrested at his home barely an hour later, he told police it could not possibly have been him as he was subject to an electronically monitored curfew. A quick check with the monitoring service revealed he had left the property that night. He admitted burglary.
At the time of the break-in, Kayani, of Grosvenor Gardens in Wallsend, was just two weeks into a curfew as part of a community order given for shop thefts, prosecutor Kevin Wardlaw said.
'Blatant breach of curfew'
A member of Heron Foods' staff got an alert on their phone to say someone had smashed their way into the shop at about 01:40 GMT, the court heard.They discovered Kayani had stolen 160 vapes worth £800 and 150 chocolate bars worth £300, while causing up to £400 worth of damage.Kayani, who had 41 convictions for 112 offences on his criminal record, including many thefts and burglaries, was quickly identified on CCTV by police and arrested at his home at 03:00.A large portion of the chocolate bars were found there but none of the vapes were recovered, the court heard.After he told officers he was on curfew, it was quickly discovered he left his home at about 01:00 that morning and returned an hour and 18 minutes later.Kayani, a cocaine and heroin addict, was in "blatant and flagrant breach" of his curfew, Mr Wardlaw said.
Follow BBC North East on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram. Send your story ideas here.