Great Western Coffee Shop

A drunken burglar who stole premium cuts of sushi grade fish from a restaurant storehouse at Paddington station has been sentenced to 20 weeks in jail following a British Transport Police investigation.

Thomas Pyne, 35, appeared at City of Westminster Magistrates this week in connection with two incidents in which he stole fish from fridges belonging to Yo! Sushi.

Pyne, a journalism student, admitted to being drunk during the incidents in the early hours of 3 May and 11 June of this year, when he stole ^140 worth of salmon, tuna and yellowfin steaks from the restaurant^s fridges.

The break-ins were reported to British Transport Police officers, who circulated CCTV images in police circles of a suspect leaving the station when the offences happened.

Pyne, of Formosa Street, west London, was subsequently arrested on August 9 after colleagues from the Metropolitan Police identified Pyne as the culprit.

^We obtained CCTV images of him leaving the station during the dates and times in question,^ said Detective Constable Martin Coburn, investigating officer from BTP. ^When he was shown them he clearly thought that it was sensible to hold his hands up and admit what he had done.^

Det Con Coburn said that in interview Pyne said that he had a ^hazy^ recollection of the events and that he must have been drunk.

^It was a very bizarre case indeed,^ he added. "He couldn^t even remember what he had done with the fish and said he had probably just thrown it away in bins outside the station."

Pyne was charged with, and later admitted to, two counts of burglary.

On Wednesday 25 August 2010 he was sentenced to eight weeks for the May offence and 12 weeks for the June offence, to run consecutively with each other.