Knickers thief banned from Scilly

Women from the islands had to identify their possessions

A builder who stole knickers and sex toys from women on the Isles of Scilly has been banned from visiting the islands for seven years.

Andrew Stephan, formerly of Telegraph Street, St Mary's, walked free from court after a judge ruled the offences were not serious enough for prison.

In July the 42-year-old pleaded guilty at Truro Crown Court to 10 counts of theft over four to five years.

He was sentenced to 150 hours of unpaid community service and £1,000 in costs.

Judge Paul Darlow also gave Stephan an Anti-social Behaviour Order (Asbo) banning him from visiting the Isles of Scilly or entering a house without invitation for seven years.

These women haven't got to see him for the next seven years DC Alan Barnsley

Stephan was told by the judge that he had stolen "particularly personal items" in breach of the trust that people on St Mary's showed by leaving their doors unlocked.

He went on: "That is a trust that does not unfortunately exist on the mainland, and one that must even on St Mary's have been badly shaken by the discovery of your activities."

'Deeply ashamed'

Prosecutor Barrie van den Berg said Stephan told police in an interview that he stole women's underwear from washing lines on the island.

Llewellyn Sellick, defending, said Stephan was a man with no previous convictions who felt "deeply ashamed" by what he had done.

He added that banning him from Scilly, where his daughter, 10, and son, four, live with his estranged wife, would have the effect of "banishment from his home".

Det Con Alan Barnsley, the officer in the case, said afterwards that the Asbo was the "main thing", adding: "These women haven't got to see him for the next seven years."