Footballer jailed for raiding shop in riots

Ex-Latics youngster stole sports gear
A FORMER Latics junior has been jailed for 32 months after being caught on CCTV smashing through the window of a sports shop during Manchester’s riots.

Fabrice Bembo-Leta, of Kenyon Street, Ashton, who played for Oldham Athletic Centre of Excellence from the ages of 14 to 16, was sentenced after admitting burglary at Manchester Crown Court.

The 19-year-old Stalybridge Celtic player, whose twin brother Djeny plays for the first team at Latics, was said to be one of around 100 looters who entered the store.

He smashed his way into Foot Asylum with an iron grid and stole £250 of sports gear, telling police he just “wanted something to wear” and that his mother only gave him £20 a week.

He has lost his place in the Stalybridge squad.

The churchgoing teenager joined the fray after his bus out of town was suspended and thugs trying to get into the Arndale Centre shop asked him for help.

After getting into the store he grabbed five t-shirts, dropped two and stashed three in a near-by plant pot.

He abandoned them after police approached but was linked to the crime by CCTV, later handing himself in when he saw his own face on a police Shop A Looter campaign.

Bembo-Leta, who also played for Altrincham FC’s youth teams, has no previous convictions.

Michael Brady, defending, said: “He’s not a young man known to police who knew it would be inevitable that he would be identified, neither is it the situation that he was under any pressure from family to surrender.

“This was very much a decision taken by a remarkably mature 19-year-old, probably a reflection not only on him but also his family and the way he has been brought up.”