Pair request deportation after jail for mobile phone shop burglary spree
Florin Craciun and Eremia Mirea appeared at Ipswich Crown Court on Thursday - Credit: Suffolk Constabulary
A pair of thieves have been jailed after going on a week-long mobile phone shop burglary spree around Suffolk and north Essex.
Florin Craciun, 20, and Eremia Mirea, 19, appeared before Ipswich Crown Court via video link from Peterborough prison on Thursday morning.
The pair had previously admitted smashing their way into the O2 store in the Buttermarket, Bury St Edmunds, causing an estimated £4,500 in damage and stealing a number of items, at about 2am on April 29.
One of the raids took place at the O2 store in Bury St Edmunds on April 29 - Credit: Supplied
A third defendant, a boy aged 14, from Leeds, was remanded to the youth court to be dealt with for the same offence, the court heard.
Craciun, of of Queens Road, Lowestoft, and Mirea, of Queens Road, Lowestoft, asked Judge Emma Peters to also take into consideration three other burglaries during the preceding few days.
Mobile phones and electronic devices were stolen in another smash-and-grab raid of the Three store in Lowestoft on April 25.
On the same night, the pair attempted to kick their way through the glass door of Lowestoft's O2 store.
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Three nights later, mobile phones were stolen after a glass door was smashed and shutters forced open at the Vodafone store in Colchester.
Prosecutor Alfred Underwood said police were called to the O2 store in Bury St Edmunds the following night by street CCTV operators watching the burglary unfold.
Mirea and the 14-year-old boy were arrested at the scene, while Craciun was apprehended later the same day, in St Andrew's Street North, following reports of a male in a distressed state.
Both Romanian nationals told the court they wished to be deported at the conclusion of their sentences.
Speaking through an interpreter, Craciun told Judge Peters: "I'm really sorry for what I've done.
"It was a period of time when I took drugs. It was a bad time in my life and I really apologise."
Also speaking through an interpreter, Mirea added: "I'm really sorry for what I've done.
"I admit I did what the prosecution said. I want to get on with my life after serving the sentence you consider."
Both men were sentenced to 12 months in a Young Offender Institution and will be liable for deportation at the end of their sentences.
