A MAN has appeared in the dock for stealing from a hospice charity shop in Bournemouth.

Robert May, 51, stole a black leather jacket from the Lewis-Manning Hospice Care charity shop in Seamoor Road, Westbourne, on Monday, April 12.

May pleaded guilty to a single count of theft when he appeared at Poole Magistrates’ Court on Friday, May 21.

The court heard the jacket May stole was worth £100.

The bench order the defendant, of no fixed abode, to pay £100 compensation to the charity.

May was discharged conditionally for 12 months for the offence.

In a statement after the hearing, Lewis-Manning Hospice Care chief executive Clare Gallie said: "We are saddened by the theft of clothing from our local Lewis-Manning Hospice Care Westbourne charity shop.

"Donations to our charity are so important to us, enabling us to turn peoples kind gifts of clothing into care for the many people with life limiting illness that we are here to help across east Dorset and Purbeck."

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