‘Tragedy’ of ex-footballer who spiralled into drug use
SPORTSMAN STOLE TO FEED HIS HABIT WHEN PLAYING CAREER ENDED
A FORMER semi-professional footballer has been jailed for carrying out six shop thefts in Derby.
A court heard how drug addict Kadeem Brown had stayed out of trouble for five years while he played the game to a high standard.
But when his chance in the sport fell through in 2017, the now 28-year-old returned to using heroin and crack cocaine and stole to fund his habit.
Jailing him for a year, Recorder Michael Auty QC said: “The sadness of your case is that for five years you got yourself off these pernicious drugs.
“You were obviously a gifted sportsman, certainly a few years ago, and it is a tragedy to see you in this manner.
“There is the breach of a suspended sentence imposed last November, primarily for burglary.
“There are the six shop thefts which, as everybody has said, are not desperately serious but are aggravated when all six are placed together.
“Then there is the bail act offence, and I have to bear in mind that when people don’t come to court it wastes time that could be used by other people that could be dealt with and the whole system gets clogged up.”
Noel Philo, prosecuting, said Brown, of no fixed address, was handed a suspended sentence at Nottingham Crown Court last November for a number of offences, the most serious of which was burglary.
He said as part of it he should have gone to probation appointments, but did not, and then failed to come to court to face breach proceedings.
The prosecutor said: “He has not even started the order, there was absolutely no attempt to deal with the order at all. “And during the currency of that order – on December 17, January 29, February 23, February 25 and February 26 – he carried out shop thefts at Sainsbury’s in Osmaston (Park Road) and stole on each occasion. “And in February 24 there was another shop theft at a B&Q store in Derby. “The total value does not amount to much at all, on three occasions he got away with the goods which were never recovered and on three occasions he did not, was apprehended, and the goods were recovered.” Brown pleaded guilty to six counts of theft, breaching his suspended sentence order and a bail act offence for not turning up at court.
He has 11 convictions for 31 offences, Mr Philo told Derby Crown Court, sitting at Nottingham Crown Court.
Sinjin Bullbring, mitigating, said his client has been at HMP Lincoln since his last arrest, and during that time has taken steps to address his drug use.
He said: “The defendant understands all too well his position, he is realistic and knows that he faces having his suspended sentence activated.
“He is also realistic in that he knows he was given a chance and has squandered that chance.
“He is a man with demons, those demons being class A drug addiction, and he has suffered with them for some time.
“Between 2012 and 2017 there was a gap in his offending and he was playing football to a semi-professional level.
“Then, in 2017, the football stopped, he became depressed and he went back to drugs.”
He is a man with demons, those demons being class A drug addiction.
Solicitor Sinjin Bullbring