Women jailed for Abbey thefts

Two women tourists who stole teddy bears and flowers that had been left outside Westminster Abbey in tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales, were jailed yesterday for four weeks.

Magistrate Roger Davies, sitting at Horseferry Road Magistrates Court in central London, said he had a duty to jail the women in order to reflect the public sense of outrage and to deter others.

Maria Rigociova, 54, a teacher, from Nitra, western Slovakia, and Agnesa Sihelska, 50, a communications technician, eastern Slovakia,had spent the night in police cells after being arrested at 1.30am yesterday.

After the case, their solicitor, Philip Hill, said they would be appealing against the sentence on the grounds that it was excessive.