Staff at a North Yorkshire post office reacted with disgust today after a Romanian asylum seeker avoided a prison sentence for burgling their store.

Ionut Caldararu, 24, and his heavily pregnant sister-in-law Ileana Caldararu, 20, stole £2,300 from the Londis store, in Doncaster Road, Selby.

At York Magistrates Court yesterday Ionut Caldararu was sentenced to 240 hours community service and ordered to pay £120 prosecution costs after admitting his part in the sneak-in burglary.

His co-accused could not attend court because she has just given birth, and will be sentenced next month.

Londis store assistant Diane Moore was behind the counter when Ileana Caldararu snatched the cash from an unlocked safe and crawled out of the shop on her hands and knees.

The stolen cash was passed to Ionut Caldararu who was later found by police with the money in a pub in Selby town centre.

Mrs Moore said: "It was a frightening experience, and I expected him to go to prison. It appears there's one law for asylum seekers and one for the rest of us."

Postmaster's son Christopher Gilman said: "To get community service is just a slap on the wrist - it's disgusting."

He added: "They were asking us to recommend some food for their baby, which we did. We helped them and in return they robbed us.

"This sentence sends out the wrong message."

Proceedings at yesterday's hearing were conducted via an interpreter who was sworn in on the Koran.

Craig Robertson, defending, told magistrates it had been an opportunistic crime. He said Ionut Caldararu, who was living in Slough, Berkshire, was a married father of two who was seeking political asylum in the UK.

He explained Mr Caldararu's sister-in-law was not fit to come to court as she had given birth to a baby girl earlier this month. She is due to appear before York magistrates for sentence on May 15.

Magistrates told Mr Caldararu, who had no previous convictions, that they had taken into account the fact he had spent 11 days in custody and had admitted the offence at the first occasion. They said the community service order was a direct alternative to jail.

The pair were picked up as part of a group of seven who told police they travelled around the country begging. Charges against the others arrested were dropped.

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