An alleged Oxford Street pickpocket has appeared in court this week.
Elizabet Ilieva, 26, was at large for so long that the Crown Prosecution Service dropped its case against her, Oxford Crown Court heard on Friday (April 28).
She came before Judge Maria Lamb after being arrested on a warrant issued by a judge at Southwark Crown Court in south London in late 2018.
The warrant for her arrest was issued when Ilieva failed to attend her plea and trial preparation hearing, having elected at the magistrates’ court to have the relatively low-level charges of theft and attempted theft heard by a judge and jury.
On Friday, prosecutor Cathy Olliver said the CPS had closed its case in 2019. The alleged victims whose purses and handbags were targeted on Oxford Street in central London were both tourists, the court heard.
Ilieva pleaded not guilty to theft and attempted theft in September and October 2018, Ms Olliver offered no evidence to support the prosecution and Judge Lamb formally recorded not guilty verdicts.
The defendant did, however, admit, to failing to appear before Southwark Crown Court in 2018. Judge Lamb, who said Ilieva had ‘made herself scarce for four plus years’ imposed a six month conditional discharge.
It means that as long as Ilieva remains out of trouble for six months she will not be punished for the failing to surrender charge.
No details were given as to how Ilieva found herself in custody on Friday. Ms Olliver, for the CPS, said no statement detailing the circumstances of her arrest had accompanied the defendant to court.
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