A TEENAGE killer who beat a Big Issue seller to death faces a return to prison after committing burglary.

Craig Real, now 21, was caged in 2010 after admitting the manslaughter of Ralph Millward in Westbourne the year before.

But just two months after his release from prison, he stole a £250 television from a summer house in the grounds of a property in Monkton Crescent, Poole.

Although he was due to be sentenced yesterday at Bournemouth Magistrates’ Court for the offence, District Judge Stephen Nicholls said the magistrates who had accepted Real’s plea at the court had made an “error”, and committed the case to crown court.

He said he would be limited to ‘category three’ sentencing, which means a defendant’s time in custody is capped at 18 weeks.

“The proper guidelines – taking into account in particular the aggravating feature of the previous conviction – make this a category one offence,” he said.

“The reality is that this court has insufficient powers and I am committing the defendant to Bournemouth Crown Court.”

The judge had heard that Real broke into the summer house in April because he is “essentially homeless”, as a condition of his release prevents him being in a house with children.

Mark Price, mitigating, said: “I am going to ask you to consider a conditional discharge. A low value item was taken, there was no ransacking or soiling.

“I cannot find any aggravating factor in respect of this offence.”

He added: “We have here a young person who in effect has been in prison since he was 16 – he is now 21.”

But Alison Saunders, prosecuting, said the victim felt “quite violated” by the theft.

“In his victim impact statement, he said, ‘No one has the right to invade our personal space and take things that don’t belong to them’.”

Real, who was bailed to an address in Millfield, Upton, will be sentenced at Bournemouth Crown Court on July 11.

'Kicked and left for dead'

Ralph Millward, 41, was kicked and left for dead close to his pitch and Marks & Spencer in Westbourne after he refused to give up his tobacco to Real and his co-defendants Warren Crago and Jimmy Ayres.
 

Real, then of Rossmore, Poole, was the eldest of the group at nearly 17.
 

He returned to the scene to push a shopping trolley into Mr Millward’s broken body.
 

The trio were found guilty of manslaughter in 2010, and Real was jailed for four years and nine months.
 

After serving half the time, he was released, but failed to keep to set conditions and was rearrested to serve his full sentence.