Igors Solins pleaded guilty to breaking into the British Heart Foundation and The Norfolk Hospice shop on the same night.

Magistrates in King's Lynn referred Solins to Cambridge Crown Court after he pleaded guilty to breaking into the British Heart Foundation in Wisbech overnight on Monday January 5. The 24-year-old also admitted a second charge of breaking into The Norfolk Hospice shop on the same night.

Prosecutor Ben Brighouse explained that Mr Solins rummaged through staff lockers, raided the kitchen cupboards for tins of baked beans and coffee, and stole clothes and computer equipment when he entered the British Heart Foundation shop.

'This is where it gets odd because it appears now the burglars had a haircut during the burglary,' he said. 'It is not the most sensible thing to do, and there was a large amount of hair is left on the kitchen floor.'

The court heard how Mr Solins also broke into another shop, The Norfolk Hospice, on the same night and raided a donation box on the counter and forced open the petty cash drawer.

'Mr Solins and his associate were caught on CCTV in the area kicking in the door of one of the premises,' added Mr Brighouse, who explained Mr Solins appeared to be under the influence of alcohol at the time.

In mitigation, George Sorrell explained Mr Solins had no previous convictions but had received a caution for possessing the drug ketamin.

He said: 'Could I tell you that he has been in the country for four years and has always been previously working. Except he suffered an accident in the kebab shop where he was working because he was cleaning some equipment and sustained an injury to his hand involving chlorine. Therefore, he has found himself in stressful circumstances with no money and nowhere to live.

'However when people find themselves in distress and are hard up with no money for food and no money to sustain themselves, they do seem to find money for alcohol. In his drunken state, he did break into charity shops that do very good work for people in need.'

Mr Solins, of no fixed abode, spoke through a Russian interpreter and will receive a date for his next court appearance at Cambridge Crown Court.