Four Romanians were yesterday jailed and banned from the island after they were arrested for begging in the street in Douglas.

Loredana Mihaela Baico, Mihai Stoica, Sebastian Enache, and Viorca Vasiliu all pleaded guilty to vagrancy and were sentenced to 21 days in prison.

Vasiliu was sentenced to an additional seven days for stealing a skirt from Marks and Spencer.

Three of them had been previously taken to the Sea Terminal and left the island voluntarily on July 5, after a warning by police for the same offence.

High Bailiff Jayne Hughes made a five-year exclusion order for all four, which excludes them from entering the island.

Prosecuting advocate James Robinson told the court that, on July 22 at 10.50am, police received a report of 55-year-old Vasiliu sitting on the ground opposite Boots in Strand Street, with a sign saying ‘Please help me. I’m hungry.  God bless you.’

When officers arrested her, they found a skirt from Marks and Spencer in her belongings.

During an interview, she claimed she had come to the island after being promised work in June, and that she had a six-month visa to stay.

Baicu, who is 33, was seen on July 22 at 11.35am, sitting against a bin near the Strand Shopping Centre.

She was holding a sign saying the same thing.

Fifty-five-year-old Stoica, who was said to be Vasiliu’s husband, was also arrested in Strand Street on the same day after police received reports of him begging.

When he was interviewed, he claimed that the four of them had come here on July 21 on the ferry, after a man called ‘Florin’ had told them that there would be jobs at a factory on the island for all of them.

Stoica claimed that they had each paid ‘Florin’ £100 and were then supposed to meet someone called ‘Costal’ but he never appeared.

He said that they had slept outside on July 21 and were intending to go back to England on the ferry.

Stoica told police that he had £1,000 in a bank account and £200 in cash, but when asked why he had not used it for accommodation, he claimed that it was because not all four of them had money.

Stoica said that he was not aware that begging was illegal and apologised.

He was asked by police how they had arrived in the UK but was said to have then become animated and said: ‘I’m not interested in that.’

Enache, who is 34, was seen begging outside Pat-a-Cake in Duke Street on the same date.

He was sitting on a suitcase and had a sign saying ‘Please help with some change for surgery on my eye, hand, and leg.  God bless you.’

Enache has a visible deformity to his eye.

Vasiliu, Baicu, and Stoica were charged under the 1896 Vagrancy Act with wandering abroad without having any visible means of subsistence and not giving a good account of themselves, while Enache was charged with wandering abroad and endeavouring, by the exposure of wounds and deformities, to obtain or gather alms.

They appeared in court with the assistance of two interpreters and were all listed as of no fixed abode.

The maximum penalty for the offences in the Isle of Man is three months’ custody.

Prosecutor Mr Robinson sought an exclusion order for all four parties, saying that they appeared to have come to the island with the sole purpose of begging for money.

The prosecutor said that the immigration authority would be issuing notices of liability in the next seven days for the defendants to be removed from the island.

Advocate Paul Glover, representing Vasiliu, said that his client had not been overly persistent or a significant nuisance to the public, and the offence had been over a short period of time.

Mr Glover said that Vasiliu had spent three days in custody and just wanted to return to the UK, but had no finances.

Sara-Jayne Dodge represented Baicu, and said that her client had four children and was seeking to provide for them.

Ms Dodge said that an exclusion order was not necessary as her client had no intention to remain here since no job was available to her.

The advocate said that Baicu had no finances and was relying on the other three parties for support.

Stoica was represented by Paul Rodgers who said: ‘In my submission this is a very very sad case.

‘These are individuals of limited means. They slept on the street the night before.

‘The Isle of Man doesn’t have a homeless shelter and that is one of the reasons why they face criminal prosecutions today.’

Mr Rodgers said that, in the UK, parliament had set about repealing its vagrancy legislation and that he would be happy to pay for the four parties’ ferry fares if they could not afford them.

David Clegg represented Enache and said that his client suffered from epilepsy, paralysis in one arm and leg, and had an issue with his eye.

‘Mr Enache wants to leave. He apologises for his behaviour and had not understood how serious it could be taken here,’ said the advocate.

‘He hadn’t understood that by getting on a ferry he was actually leaving the UK and England.’

The court heard that all four parties had no previous convictions.

High Bailiff Mrs Hughes told the defendants: ‘The offences took place in the main shopping street at a busy time on a Saturday morning, when people are entitled to go about their business without being approached by beggars.

‘However, there is no evidence of any inappropriate behaviour towards any member of the public other than nuisance caused generally.’

The High Bailiff said that she did consider that there had been an element of sophistication in the offences as three of them had signs, and Enache had been playing on his disabilities to seek funds.

The five-year exclusion order will come into force 28 days after it is issued, as this is the time period allowed for any appeal.

Mrs Hughes told the defendants that they could be given financial assistance to leave the island by the police, if they left voluntarily upon their release from prison.