A thief who stole seven iPads from a Pets at Home store has been handed a 12-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, and also ordered to pay £1,566 in compensation.

Workers at Pets At Home on Festival Retail Park, Stoke-on-Trent, discovered the equipment had been taken from the staff room after noticing a normally-locked door was ajar.

Magistrates at North Staffordshire Justice Centre heard 36-year-old  Lee Hollinshead and another man had been captured on CCTV going into the private area.

The court heard the iPads were valued at £2,742. Three were later recovered – two from a car used by Hollinshead and one from his house.

Hollinshead, of Liverpool Road, Stoke, told officers he had gone into the shop looking for something for his cat but one of the people he was with decided to go into the staff room ‘to see if there was anything worth taking’ and he agreed to go along with it. 

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