The trial of a man accused of attempting to burgle the home of Labour peer Luciana Berger and stealing family possessions from a car has been adjourned after the court failed to book a Kurdish interpreter.
Sarbast Lokman, 34, faces burglary, theft, and attempted burglary charges after allegedly going to the politician’s London home twice in two days in April.
It is alleged he tried to get into the property by the back door on April 11 and, upon finding it locked, stole items which had been left in the back garden.
The following day, Lokman is alleged to have returned, managing to get into a car outside Berger’s home before stealing items valued at £350.
Prosecutors claim he took a pair of Marc Jacobs sunglasses, two pairs of children’s wellington boots and one adult pair, a first aid kit, an emergency blanket, a green picnic blanket, and tracksuit bottoms and a T-shirt belonging to a child.
Lokman is also accused of stealing a gift-wrapped Neom candle, a bottle of motor fluid, and some loose change from the car.
Berger told the City of London Magistrates’ Court she felt “targeted” after the incidents due to her high-profile standing in the Jewish community and as a peer and former MP.
The politician, 45, was the MP for Liverpool Wavertree between 2010 and 2019, and held shadow ministerial roles for climate change, public health, and mental health under Ed Miliband and Jeremy Corbyn.
But she quit the Labour Party in February 2019 in protest at Corbyn’s leadership, and denounced the party as “institutionally antisemitic”.
In February 2023, she returned to Labour under Sir Keir Starmer and, in December 2024, it was announced she would enter the House of Lords as a life peer, with the title Baroness Berger of Barnhill in the London Borough of Brent.
Lokman, who faces an additional allegation of attempting to burgle a home in Enfield, North London, in March, was due to stand trial on Thursday, having previously denied all the charges.
But his case had to be adjourned until July 6, when it was discovered that a Kurdish interpreter had not been booked for the trial, and efforts by court staff to scour London for an available interpreter at the last minute failed.
District Judge Annabel Pilling conveyed the news of the adjournment to Lokman by typing out an apology and explanation on her tablet, running the message through Google Translate, and showing him the screen.
Lokman, who told the court he is currently homeless but previously had an address in North Finchley, denies burglary, two charges of attempted burglary, and theft from a motor vehicle.
He has been remanded in custody to await his trial since the first court appearance in May.
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