A judge who passed a jail sentence on a burglar yesterday quickly changed his mind and set the relieved man free when he realised there were no custody officers or cells available.

Sivuyile Mjali, 28, was initially told by Recorder Paul Garlick QC that he would be going to prison for eight months and that his offence was too serious for the sentence to be suspended.

But then Recorder Garlick was told there was no provision for taking anyone into custody at the 'Nightingale' Court where he was presiding in Cirencester.

The courthouse at Cirencester has recently been taken out of mothballs to help clear the backlog of Gloucester Crown Court criminal cases that have accumulated during the pandemic.

But the building is not staffed with custody officers and does not have cells equipped to modern day standards for housing defendants who are jailed or remanded in custody.

When Recorder Garlick realised the difficulty his sentence pronouncement had caused he said he would pause for thought - and then minutes later told relieved Mjali that he would not be going straight to prison after all.

Instead, the judge passed a suspended eight months sentence, saying that on reflection he realised he had not taken properly into account the fact that Mjali was of previous good character.

Mjali, of Mayfair Court, Observer Drive, Watford, had pleaded guilty to burgling a terrified woman's flat in Cheviot Close, Quedgeley, Gloucester on September 21, 2019, as she cowered in bed, stealing keys, a bank card, pregnancy test kit and a gold watch.

Recorder Garlick said to Mjali: “Obviously this case crosses the custody threshold and the appropriate sentence is eight months. As an act of mercy I am going to suspend this sentence for two years. However I will attach a condition that you carry out 120 hours of unpaid work.

“I feel that the shock you have probably suffered over the past few minutes over an immediate custodial sentence shows you how serious your offending is. You now know how close you came to going to prison today.

“I am satisfied that I can suspend the sentence. You have your legal representative to thank for walking free from court today.”

The Recorder then spoke directly to the press in court and emphasised: “I have already expressed the seriousness of this offence. And anybody reviewing this sentence that I have imposed should not in any way consider that in cases similar to this that the defendant will not go into custody.

“Mjali has escaped being imprisoned by the skin of his teeth.”