Dear Resident,

A convicted burglar has been jailed after being caught stealing cash from a worshipper at Faizen E Madina Mosque.

Hassan Ali, 23, entered , the mosque in Gladstone Street, Millfield, on the evening of 14 February and loitered in a communal area before following a man into the ablution area.

The man placed his jacket on a coat hook and entered the toilet area, while Ali took £210 in cash from the jacket and immediately left the mosque.

The whole incident was captured on CCTV and sent to police who identified Ali as the man in the footage after recognising him from a previous burglary investigation.

He was arrested at his home in Almond Road, Dogsthorpe, Peterborough, yesterday afternoon (Tuesday) and later charged with theft from a person which he admitted at Peterborough Magistrates’ Court today (Wednesday).

He was sentenced to four weeks in prison and ordered to pay £210 in compensation to the victim.

PC Guy Cunningham, from Peterborough’s Eastern Neighbourhood Policing Team, said: “Ali has previous convictions for theft and burglary offences, and clearly has no regard for people and their property.

“To steal from someone in a place of worship is despicable, so I am pleased we were able to identify Ali and put him before the courts.”

Video footage can be viewed on our YouTube channel here.

Kind regards,