Officer arrests over his stolen sarnie

The cheese sandwich was on a shelf at the police station

A man who volunteered to take part in a police identity parade was later arrested when he ate a policeman's cheese sandwich.

Alan Hunt, 36, took a lunch box from a shelf at Bournemouth police station in Dorset, and shared its contents with others in the line-up.

But Police Constable Chris Biggs was not impressed and arrested the unemployed actor, who was later charged with theft.

Hunt pleaded guilty before East Dorset magistrates and was given a six-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £25 towards the £118 costs.

It wasn't a good sandwich - I only ate one round and it was bloody terrible Alan Hunt

Hunt said that once he had been found out he offered to buy Pc Biggs a baguette, but the policeman declined and he spent more than eight hours in a police cell at the Bournemouth station.

His £10 fee for taking part in the line-up was also withheld.

Alison Brooking, defending Hunt, said: "He appreciates it was a particularly silly thing to do, but he did it because he was hungry.

"He offered to repay the officer from the money he would have received from the parade, but there was no take-up of his offer of compensation."

After sentencing, Hunt, who is staying at an address in Bournemouth said: "That was an expensive cheese sandwich.

'Waste of taxpayers' money'

"Theft was the last thing on my mind.

"I saw it as a bit of a prank. I'm a regular Robin Hood.

"It wasn't a good sandwich - I only ate one round and it was bloody terrible.

"What's really annoyed me is the waste of taxpayers' money."

But a spokesman for Dorset Police said: "He was detained because we had good reason to believe he had committed a criminal offence.

"All joking aside, if that had happened in a shop in the town centre we wouldn't have just ignored it.

"The fact that he was prosecuted speaks for itself - he had committed a crime."