UK THIEF STOLE HOSPITAL COMPUTER News & Star

Published on 06/03/2006
By STAFF REPORTER

A WEST Cumbrian man stole computer equipment worth more than £600 from Workington Community Hospital to feed his drug habit.

West Allerdale Magistrates Court heard that 24-year-old Mark Munn, of Grasmere Terrace, Maryport, was caught on CCTV.

It happened at about 3pm on January 16 this year at the Park Lane hospital. A staff member was carrying files to a store room when she spotted Munn hanging around the waiting area.

On her way back from the store room she found Munn in the staff-only corridor.

When challenged, Munn said he had been sent that way to see a doctor.

She knew this was a lie and noticed that he was carrying a clinical waste bag and a doctor’s white coat.

Munn fled from the scene. The staff member checked the nearby rooms and noticed some computer equipment was missing.

Police checked CCTV footage which showed Munn fleeing the hospital.

He was later arrested and told officers he could remember running from the hospital with a bag. His memory was hazy, he said, because he had taken Valium and heroin.

None of the computer equipment – worth £620 in total – was recovered.

At West Allerdale Magistrates’ Court, Munn pleaded guilty to burglary and asked for another offence, the theft of £50 worth of meat from Iceland, to be taken into consideration.

In mitigation, Mike Woo said the theft had been driven by Munn’s need to fund his drug habit.

However, he added that since the hospital theft, Munn has been getting help and was now drug-free.

Magistrates said it was particularly repugnant that Munn had stolen from a hospital and that the records the computer contained may have been confidential.

Munn Munn was sentenced to a 12-month drug rehabilitation and testing order, plus 12 months supervision.But magistrates warned him that repeat offending would almost certainly land him in jail. Munn was also ordered to pay £670 compensation for both the computer equipment and stolen meat.