A Romanian thief who allegedly stole 27 cellphones from fans attending a Limp Bizkit concert in Manchester, England earlier this year (14) has been jailed for 14 months.

Stefu Costel was accused of targeting gig-goers at the Rollin' hitmaker's show at The Academy venue in February (14) after police raided his Manchester home two days later and found a slew of pricey mobiles stuffed inside a plastic bag - all believed to have been taken at the show.

He denied the claims, insisting he was just looking after the bag for his brother's friend, but pleaded guilty to handling stolen goods.

The 30 year old, who served time behind bars last year (13) for a similar crime at the U.K.'s Reading Festival, was sentenced in Manchester Crown Court this week (begs04Aug14), when Judge Lindsey Kushner Qc chastised Costel and accused him of giving his nation "a bad name".

She added, "He is one of those people in one of those gangs who go to public events and sweep through everyone.

"These are offences that are a plague on all of us. It is not just a bit of pick-pocketing. It is a rash. It is a gang stealing, and you are part of that arrangement. We do not want criminals such as yourself in this country."

Prosecutors claimed many of Costel's victims were unaware they had been targeted during the gig and only discovered their phones were missing later in the night. All of the smartphones are now set to be returned to their rightful owners.

Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst was stunned to hear the news about the thefts and shared a link to the news article on his Twitter.com page on Tuesday (05Aug14), alongside the simple caption, "Wtf (what the f**k)!"