TWO opportunist crooks have pleaded guilty to stealing around 40 mobile phones from a van parked in Winchester’s High Street.

Philip Mack, 42 from Selsdon Road, Croydon and Gareth May, 51, from Lower Addiscombe Road, Croydon both pleaded guilty yesterday to the theft of electrical devices and accessories belonging to O2 worth £24,534.

A Hampshire police appeal for witnesses at the time of the incident said the phones were stolen from a white van parked at the junction of the High Street with Trafalgar Street at around 9am on December 12 last year, when they were about to be delivered.

Both men are due to be sentenced at Winchester Crown Court on Friday, June 13.

His Honour Judge Guy Boney QC remanded Mack in custody, while May remains on unconditional bail.