Drunk burglar rammed Worcester shop using giraffe

A burglar, drunk on Lambrini and beer, used a giraffe statue as a battering ram to break into a shop and fell asleep at the scene, a court has heard.

Edward Galbraith, 20, said he had no memory of the break in at a shop in Worcester on 3 September and woke up confused under a clothes rail.

The giraffe, named Dotty, was due to be auctioned to raise money for a hospice.

Galbraith was handed a community order after pleading guilty at Worcester Magistrates' Court.

He admitted stealing £452 worth of clothes and damaging Dotty, part of a sculpture trail around the city, during the break-in at about 02:00 BST.

Galbraith, of Cromer Road in Worcester, was ordered to pay £1,860 in compensation and complete 150 hours of unpaid work.

Dotty, meanwhile, "will need to be taken to a fibreglass specialist to be repaired", prosecutor Kerry Lovegrove said.

Galbraith has written to St Richard's Hospice, for which the sculpture trail was fundraising, as well as the Two Seasons shop on Chapel Walk he broke into apologising for his actions.

"His memory of the incident is somewhat vague at best," his defence said.