A MAN with a lengthy record for burglary has changed his plea and admitted breaking into a city centre store to steal ten mobile phones, earlier this year.

Steven Hendry is alleged to have entered Mobile Tech, in the High Street, at the Prince Bishops Centre, Durham, from where he was said to have taken the phones, on Friday April 23.

Appearing at Durham Crown Court, by video link from the city’s nearby prison, he denied the charge, at a plea hearing on June 1.

He was remanded to remain in custody prior to a trial scheduled to be staged at the court, in the week of September 13.

But, the case came back before the court for a further case management hearing, at which the 50-year-old defendant, of Hawthorn Street, Easington Colliery, changed his plea and admitted the charge.

Following his change of plea, Judge James Adkin told Hendry: “That was a sensible thing to do, as the evidence against you is very strong.”

But sentence was deferred pending the outcome of a further case against the defendant, on a charge of reckless arson, going before Newcastle Crown Court, on August 2.

He is said to have set fire to a coat he was wearing in a church yard, causing a risk of a blaze spreading.

Judge Adkin said both cases should be dealt with at either Durham or Newcastle crown courts together, rather than in separate hearings.

 

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