IPSWICH: A teenage burglar who fell foul of the law after stealing chicken legs from a shop has been spared jail.

Goran Karim, of Surrey Road, Ipswich, broke into Butcher and Fruits in St Helen’s Street, Ipswich, and stole a wide range of stock.

In addition to the raw chicken legs valued at �20, the 19-year-old took ten boxes of Caykur branded lemon tea and 20 bottles of various types of shampoo.

Karim also stole 60 boxes of tea and various plates of pastry sweets.

A butcher’s knife was among the other items taken along with a 1.5 metre meat cutter which was used at the halal butcher’s shop.

Cash was also stolen from the premises. The total value of all the items taken came to �968.83.

The break-in took place sometime between September 16 and September 19 last year.

Fingerprints were found on a black bin liner at the store by scenes of crime officers.

Karim was arrested on October 28 and taken to Ipswich police station where he was charged the same day.

Karim was convicted of burglary in his absence after failing to turn up for his Ipswich Crown Court trial.

He appeared in court the following day after a warrant for his arrest was issued.

When he finally appeared in court he was given a 12-month community order.

As part of the order Karim must do 180 hours of unpaid work.

He was also convicted of failure to surrender to custody, for which he was electronically tagged.

Karim was told he must abide by a curfew from 7pm to 6am each day until April 26