Blackpool brickie turned shoplifter spared jail after sobbing in court over £12k drug debt
A drug user who went on a shoplifting binge at a Tesco store in Blackpool to help pay off a debt to suppliers has been put on trust to turn his life around – or go to jail.
A judge in Preston postponed sentencing Ian Kersey for three months in the hope he can finally turn his back on drugs and crime and find somewhere suitable to live.
Kersey, of Loftos Avenue, Blackpool, pleaded guilty to theft of goods worth £370 and also admitted being in breach of a suspended sentence and a community order.
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Judge Richard Gioserano told the former bricklayer that after numerous missed appointments probation officers felt they couldn’t help him anymore. They felt he was “unmanageable” and that his time was up, he had had his chance.
He said without the support of the probation service he was left with only one option in this case – an immediate prison sentence of eight months.
But as Kersey broke down in tears in the dock the judge revealed he had decided to take the unusual step of deferring the sentence for three months to give him one final chance.
“I am not a great believer in short prison sentences because I don’t see what they achieve,” he said. “But he (Kersey) has reduced the court’s options to pretty much one – a short prison sentence – it’s his fault.
“Tears won’t help either. If I impose an eight-month sentence you probably wouldn’t do half of that and when you come out you would still have the same problems as when you went in.
“You would still have the drug debt to pay and it wouldn’t find you anywhere to live. So you would probably come out in a worse position than you are now.”
The court had been told that Kersey and a woman were seen to enter the Tesco Express store in Marton Drive, Blackpool on November 23 last year, take some items and make off without paying.
A security man watching on CCTV saw Kersey leaving with a basket and black bag. He ran out and followed the couple to a house in nearby Loftos Avenue and informed police. When officers attended the house they found meat, poultry, alcohol and chocolates worth £370 which had been stolen from Tesco.
Defence barrister Kira Unsworth told the judge that in mitigation Kersey had reduced his drug use in recent weeks and had felt the intervention by the probation service had been beneficial. He had not committed any offence for the past five months.
He had told her he wanted to move away from his previous “chaotic” lifestyle in Blackpool and make a fresh start in a place where he wasn’t known. She said he had been made homeless just a few days before the court case. He also had a number of health issues, including a back problem, which made it difficult for him to work.
Judge Gioserano said: “The probation service is not proposing anything for him. In effect his time is up. So my options are limited.
“I can’t impose a suspended sentence without the support of the probation service and without him having a place to live. Avoiding re-offending for five months isn’t any reason to be throwing a party, is it?”
Kersey said from the dock: “I’m not a shoplifter. It’s not something I would normally do.” But he said he run up a drug debt of around £12,000 and still owed £2,500 of that.
“I know I’ve committed these offences. I do apologise.”
Judge Gioserano said he was prepared to defer sentence for three months to allow Kersey the chance to get his life back on track.
“It means I don’t pass sentence today, I put it off and in the meantime you have to comply with a number of conditions. If you do your bit I have to keep mine.
“You know exactly where you stand. You keep your promise to me and I will keep mine to you. Whether you take it (the chance) or not is entirely up to you.”