A homeless man who claimed he did it so he could calm himself in his tent admitted to snatching dummies from babies five times over the course of approximately six months.
Bearded At a hearing in Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, Josh Guilder, who has brown hair that reaches his shoulders and is wearing a blue polo shirt, pleaded guilty to five charges of stealing.
Between February 10 and August 7 of this year, the 23-year-old stole the dummies from infants in and around Harlow, Essex.
Prosecutor Jessica Pratt Vivian described one of the crimes as Guilder ‘removed her dummy from her lips, placed it in his pocket and departed’ after reaching inside a small girl’s pram.
Mary Buxton, defending, said Guilder was currently living in a tent and “has never been weaned from dummies”.
“He uses a dummy to soothe himself,” she said.
“He said he would take the dummy then go and sit in the tent and use the dummy,” she said, describing the thefts as “purely acquisitive”.
Guilder also acknowledged that on August 14, the day of his arrest, he had bothered, alarmed, or otherwise distressed a police officer.
According to the prosecutor, he allegedly threatened to kill the officer if his property was damaged.
He refuted three assault allegations involving three of the five kids whose dummies he removed.
Guilder was remanded in custody and will go on trial for the assault-related charges on October 10 at Colchester Magistrates’ Court.
