Jail for young burglar who stole PS5 from student complex

Game over: PlayStation thief Mohammad Alali has been jailed

A young burglar who stole a PlayStation 5 from a student complex has been jailed.

Mohammad Alali, aged 19, entered York House in the early hours before walking out with the £500 console.

Magistrates heard he targeted the student accommodation in Mansfield Road, in Nottingham city centre, at 3.30am on Thursday 5 December last year.

CCTV shows the teenager enter as a trespasser after tailgating a student into the building.

After looking around for a short while, he persuaded a student to let him into a communal area with their key-fob.

He left minutes later with the PS5 console under his coat.

Alali was arrested two weeks later after police recognised him from the CCTV footage, with further investigation work linking him to four shop thefts in the city centre.

He stole £40 worth of Budweiser and Corona from Nottingham Trent University’s Student Union, in Shakespeare Street, on 21 November.

On 4 December, he stole £36 worth of Red Bull from Sainsbury’s Local in Wheeler Gate.

Eight days later, he targeted Sainsbury’s Local in Carlton Street – this time stealing £19.25 worth of Red Bull.

He also stole two coats worth £54 from H&M, in Victoria Centre shopping centre, on 16 December.

Magistrates heard Alali had nine previous convictions for 45 offences, mostly relating to theft, and that stolen items from his latest crime spree were found at his home address.

Faced with overwhelming evidence, Alali, of Alfred Street North, Nottingham, pleaded guilty to burglary and four shop thefts.

He appeared at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court on 14 February and was jailed for 23 weeks.

PC Phil Yates, of the City Centre neighbourhood policing team, said:

“I am pleased to have gotten a positive outcome from this investigation which has seen a prolific offender sent to prison.

“Alali is one of the most prolific shoplifters in the city centre and hopefully he will now accept the help he needs for whatever has driven him to offend this frequently.”

The sentence comes just weeks after a new report by the British Retail Consortium commended Nottinghamshire Police as one of three forces providing the most effective response to retail crime.

The Crime Survey Report, which was published in January, focuses on how forces are dealing with incidents such as shoplifting and violence against retail staff.

The Consortium, which has a membership of more than 200 major retailers and thousands of independent stores, examined forces across the country.

The report states that Nottinghamshire Police, Hampshire Police and Greater Manchester Police were “nominated as the best responders” to retail crime.

Full details can be found here.