A PERSISTENT burglar aged 43 told his probation officer he was “too old for work.”

But Liam Bulpitt had managed to ransack a pub barge on the Thames at dead of night and prise a charity box from a Bradford mosque youth centre with a shovel as part of a string of criminal offences.

He was relocated to Bradford after allegedly being bullied by gypsies into committing offences in the London area, Bradford Crown Court heard.

Bulpitt was sentenced to an 18 month community order, with a Drug Rehabilitation Requirement and a Rehabilitation Activity Requirement.

No order for unpaid work was made after the court heard that he would be unable to carry it out.

The Recorder of Bradford, Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC, told Bulpitt: “None of your posh southern ways up here; you have to buckle down.”

Bulpitt was in custody after stealing £5,000 from the Tamesis Dock Floating Bar on the Albert Embankment in London in June last year.

Prosecutor Philip Adams said he did £1,200 damage to the colourfully-painted 1930s converted barge, smashing his way in to raid the safe in the middle of the night.

He was arrested in December after leaving blood at the scene that proved to be a DNA match.

Since being relocated to Bradford from London, Bulpitt had been sentenced to a community order at the city’s magistrates court for stealing a charity box from a youth centre at a mosque in the city.

He prised the box off the wall with a shovel, Mr Adams said.

Bulpitt’s criminal record included a catalogue of commercial burglaries, committed annually over the past six years. He also had a previous conviction for arson and one for housebreaking.

His barrister, Ken Green, said Bulpitt had spent “the vast majority of his life in prison.”

He had led a vagrant type life and was found accommodation in Bradford after being targeted by gypsies in London and bullied into committing offences, Mr Green said.

On his release from prison, a place in a hostel in Bradford would be found for him, Mr Green said.

The court heard that Bulpitt told his probation officer that “at 43 years old, he’s too for work.”

Mr Green said he had mental health problems. He urged the court to give him a chance to mend his ways after moving to the north of England.

Judge Durham Hall said he hoped that being relocated to Bradford, with the fresh air blowing from The Pennines,” would encourage Bulpitt to turn over a new leaf.