A man spent almost 19 hours in Police custody after stealing three Royal Gazette newspapers from a Sandys gas station.

Edward James Simons, 55, pleaded guilty in Magistrates’ Court to the charge of theft which happened at 5.30 a.m. while the papers sat in front of the Sandys Esso service station.

Crown counsel Graveney Bannister said on May 8, an off-duty Police officer was driving east on Somerset Road and spotted Simons bending over a bundle of newspapers that was in front of the store.

The officer, who was driving her private car, pulled over and confronted Simons, who was known to her, before he escaped on foot.

A call to the station’s owner, Raymond DeSilva, confirmed that 150 papers is the usual quantity that is delivered to his business and it was discovered that three newspapers where missing from the stack. Simons was later found nearby and was arrested and taken to Hamilton Police Station.

Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo gave him a six-month conditional discharge and ordered that he repay the price of the newspapers, worth $2.40 cents.

Outside the court, Simons told The Royal Gazette, he only stole the papers because he was desperate to read the news and stay informed of current events.

“I just wanted to read the paper and it was early in the morning, but instead of making me put the newspapers back, Police made me spend 19 hours in jail,” he said.

“I like reading>The Royal Gazette because of the full details I get from it.”