FOUR small bars of chocolate and a cheap deodorant nearly landed a persistent shoplifter in prison.
Stuart Barrow, 24, was before a judge at Carlisle Crown Court for two offences of stealing from shops in Workington.
The case was so minor it would normally have been heard by local magistrates.
But Barrow had to be dealt with by a judge because he already had two suspended sentences – one for theft and one for dangerous driving – hanging over him.
The judge, Recorder Neville Biddle, could have made him serve those suspended sentences – totalling eight months – in addition to anything he imposed for the thefts.
But instead he ordered him to do 40 hours’ unpaid work and put him under a curfew to keep him indoors at home every night for the next three months.
“You just don’t seem to understand that you are not supposed to steal from shops,” Mr Biddle told him. “You may well go to prison in due course but I don’t think that stage has come yet.”
Barrow, of Hinnings Road, Distington, pleaded guilty to two charges of theft.
He told the judge: “It was just some stupid, daft thing I did.”
He assured the court he would not be in trouble again. “I have got a girlfriend now and she is going to keep me out of trouble,” he said.
Published by http://www.whitehavennews.co.uk