Persistent offender runs out of leniency (From The Northern Echo)

Persistent offender runs out of leniency

3:35pm Friday 10th February 2012 in Hartlepool News

A PERSISTENT law-breaker has been jailed for committing two crimes while the subject of two suspended prison sentences and a community order.

Anthony Whitelock received non-custodial punishments by magistrates and a judge last year for a string of offences including burglary and going equipped for theft.

But within days of being shown leniency, he was stopped by police shortly after midnight with a screwdriver and part of a spark plug which he used for breaking car windows.

Whitelock claimed he had been fixing a friend's motorbike, and said the spark plug had been in the pocket of his tracksuit bottoms for a year and he had forgotten about it.

After several appearances before magistrates and being given bail, Whitelock stole ten chocolate bars from a newsagents near his home and was arrested again, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Whitelock, 26, of Earlston Walk, Hartlepool, admitted charges of theft and going equipped for theft as well as breaching the other orders and was jailed for a total of 18 months.

Judge John Walford said yesterday that previous punishments, which included supervision by the Probation Service and drug and alcohol treatment, had achieved "absolutely nothing".