Chocolate Shoplifter makes donation to charity as punishment

A SHOPLIFTER caught red-handed has donated £10 to charity rather than face prosecution.

The 59-year-old man from Blackburn was stopped by security after stealing a £1 chocolate bar from PoundWorld in The Mall this afternoon.

Police arrived and negotiated a restorative justice agreement where the thief paid for the chocolate and gave £10 from his wallet to the shopping centre’s chosen charity, the East Lancsashire Hospice.

Town centre PC Leo Noctor said officers are encouraged by force chiefs and internal campaigns to consider alternative methods of disposal such as restorative justice if the circumstances merit it.

It is part of a push to cut court and custody costs and police time, as well keeping officers on the frontline and moving towards a common sense approach to policing.

PC Noctor said: “Obviously if he had been a known criminal or repeat shoplifter and we needed bail conditions to restrict him from the town centre, then I would have made an arrest.

“But restorative justice in this case was an appropriate method of dealing with this man and it is money to a very worthy cause.

“The shoplifter was happy to do that and the manager of PoundWorld, Peter Nordoff agreed to it because he wanted the man to learn a lesson and pay towards the inconvenience.

“No-one was left out of pocket except the offender.”

The thief agreed to write a letter of apology to store manager Mr Nordoff. He is banned for life from PoundWorld and from The Mall for six months.

He had walked into the shop at 1.30pm, paid for some groceries, but slipped a chocolate bar into his jacket pocket. Staff reported him to The Mall security who stopped him as he left. He apologised and said he ‘had made a stupid mistake’, police said.

The Lancashire Telegraph is backing the hospice’s Raise The Roof campaign. Fundraiser Sharon Crimble said: “I’m amazed. This is our most unlikely donation, but a really good idea. All these amounts add up.”

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Source: Lancashire Telegraph

Daily bite of chocolate can help lower your blood pressure

A daily dose of chocolate could bolster your workouts and lower blood pressure, but mind to take only a bite or two of chocolate to reap the full benefits.

Scientists gave a group of mice a twice-daily dose of purified form of epicatechin, cacao's chief beneficial compound. These mice outperformed the group of mice who had not been given the chocolate-y supplement, according to researchers at the University of California, San Diego.

The cacao chemical also increased the physiological response in the test group's leg muscles.

Dark chocolate in tiny amounts has also been shown to lower blood pressure.


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Source: Med India

Dark chocolate tested for sunburn protection

Researchers at Laval University in Quebec City are testing to see whether regular consumption of dark chocolate helps fend off sunburns.

They say dark chocolate contains chemicals that provoke blood flow close to the skin, which helps protect against ultraviolet rays.

The researchers at the university's Institute of Nutraceuticals and Functional Foods are looking for volunteers willing to eat a small amount of chocolate every day.

Those volunteers will be exposed to sunlamps and tested against a control group.

Bruno Riverin, one of the institute's researchers, said chocolate lovers who've already signed up are mostly enjoying themselves.

"They think it's fun, it's interesting, it's new, it's original to consume chocolate in the hope that it has benefits on your health," Riverin said.

Riverin said he and his colleagues are looking for female volunteers with fair skin, between the ages of 25 and 65, who are willing to eat a small amount of chocolate every day and visit the lab once a week for 12 weeks.

He said chocolate contains high levels of antioxidant chemicals known as polyphenols, which increase blood flow close to the skin.

"More blood flow close to the skin would help protect against coup de soleil, sunburn," Riverin said.

Riverin said finding volunteers has not exactly been difficult.

"So far it hasn't been very hard. Chocolate is a very sexy food."


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Source: CBC News