Background to ‘despicable’ offending

DEFENCE barrister Giles Grant said warehouse worker Dylan Williams was motivated by money and that it was a ‘short period of prolific and serious offending’.

He told the court: “He’s a young man aged 23. There was no sign, warning or build up to this level of offending.

“He has come to understand that what he has done is wrong and the effects upon the victims.

“When he fell, he fell quickly and hard.”

Richard Prew, defending Cross, said he ‘lost his way and went completely off the rails’ after a relationship break-up.

He said: “He accepts that these were despicable offences committed in a short period of time, whether it was the thrill or simply the financial gain.

“He doesn’t have any drink or drug problems but he accepts that he got involved. He doesn’t seek to blame anyone but himself. He knows what he did was absolutely wrong.”

Naakesha Sesh, defending Fisher, said he was 17 at the time of the drugs offences and was turning 18 during the period of the burglaries.

She told the court that Fisher moved into a flat on his own, was using cannabis and ‘became involved with serious drug dealers’.

She said: “He didn’t realise at first what was happening, effectively that his flat was being used by those more seriously involved in drug dealing as somewhere to not only take the drugs but also to carry out dealing.”