Andrew Strange: Thief hid drills stolen from Bunnings in his undies

Dirty daks: A shifty shoplifter stashed stolen drills in his Y-fronts. Not surprisingly Bunnings didn’t want its tainted tools back.

A thief hid nicked drills he had stolen from Frankston Bunnings in his underwear.

A grubby thief has been nabbed nicking drills from Bunnings in Frankston by putting the tools down his pants, a court has heard.

Andrew Dennis Strange was caught stealing after he was seen by two loss prevention officers hiding two dremels worth $178 in his underwear and walking out without paying.

When the 41-year-old pilferer was confronted in the carpark and asked to provide a reason why there was a bulge in his pants, he came clean about the theft.

But Bunnings refused to have the drills returned to stock because the packaging had been broken and the tools had potentially come into contact with his privates.

He was on corrections orders and on bail for other thieving offences at the time of this June 2019 crime.

Strange pleaded guilty to theft and bail breach charges at the Frankston Magistrates’ Court on Thursday.

His defence lawyer said her client had an acquired brain injury and had struggled with mental health and homelessness issues, but now had a place to stay with his partner in Blackburn.

She said her submission would be that it was appropriate to find the case proven and dismiss it without any penalty.

But Magistrate Fiona Stewart said that was way off the mark for someone with a relevant criminal past like his.

“With those (theft) priors, I don’t think so,” Ms Stewart said.

“I’m not prepared to do that (dismiss it), I’m going to impose a fine.”

Strange was convicted and fined $500.

It is not known what happened to the two dirty dremel drills.