Armed choc bar heist

A homeless man was caught with a 19th Century French revolver after trying to steal two chocolate bars from a supermarket, a court heard.

Teodor Bojan, 29, was stopped and questioned by a security guard as he walked past the checkout tills at Sainsbury’s in Northumberland Park, Tottenham, north London, last 16 November.

After confessing to not paying for two bars of Galaxy, he added: ‘I have something that will shock you.’

Bojan then pulled out the 1873 MAS St Etienne 11mm six-shot from his bag.

Although the calibre of ammunition is now obsolete, later tests proved the gun was in full working order and capable of being fired.

Bojan told police he found it inside a plastic bag in a car park in Edmonton Green a few days earlier while looking for fag-ends.

He claimed he kept it because he thought he could sell it ‘underground’ on the black market.

Bojan is expected to argue that he was not breaking the law because it is an antique weapon and is exempt under the terms of the Firearms Act 1968.

But prosecutor Matthew Bagnall told jurors that the exemption only applies if the antique is ‘held as a curiosity or ornament’.

Mr Bagnall said: ‘He said he realised he would have to sell it underground.

‘Not then, the Crown say, as a curiosity or ornament but something to be sold on the black market.

Bojan, of no fixed address, denies possession of a prohibited firearm and possession of a firearm at the time of an offence.

He has admitted theft of the two chocolate bars.

The trial continues.