Teen stole booze after avoiding prison term
AWIDNES teenager who celebrated not going to prison for assault by stealing two bottles of booze from B&M, then headed back the next day to do the same, has been spared jail again because of his efforts to sort out his behaviour.
James Keenan, 18, of Arden, Hough Green, appeared at Chester Crown Court having pleaded guilty to two counts of theft and breaching a suspended sentence.
Robert Edwards, prosecuting, told the court how on February 13, a member of staff at B&M Bargains on Albert Road in Widnes town centre alerted the store manager on duty to Keenan acting suspiciously.
The manager watched him on the CCTV and saw him put two bottles of alcohol in his rucksack and head to the till, picking up a soft drink on the way.
At the tills, he put the soft drink down and left still with the alcohol in his bag.
Keenan then drank them, and the next day he again ‘needed a drink’ and at about 2.20pm headed back to B&M.
The store manager on duty that day had been informed of the previous day’s events and had seen the CCTV, so when Keenan arrived, he asked the youth to accompany him to the security room but Keenan refused and threatened him.
The manager grabbed him, but Keenan broke free and ran off. He was seen discarding two bottles of alcohol from the waistband of his trousers.
Keenan admitted the offences in interview.
Mr Edwards said the defendant has previous convictions for 26 offences over 11 appearances dating back to 2014 for crimes including aggravated vehicle taking, criminal damage and shoplifting.
On February 13 he was given a 12-month prison sentence suspended for two years plus 200 hours unpaid work ● for assault by bodily harm after he, with others, beat up a man, kicking and punching him, in Phoenix Park in Runcorn at 2.40am on July 20 last year.
A previous court hearing heard that the beating had taken place as revenge over an allegation that the victim had committed an offence against an associate of Keenan’s.
Claire Jones, defending, said her client had shown an ‘incredible motivation to change’.
She said Keenan had a ‘troubled childhood’ and he had turned to alcohol while young for ‘solace’ while in care.
His Honour Judge Roger Dutton, presiding, slapped Keenan with a threemonth 7pm-7am curfew, 50 hours unpaid work a 60-day rehabilitation requirement and a community order and retained the suspended sentence, warning Keenan that the next offence would mean immediate prison.
He told the teenager that unless he changed his ways he faced ‘life in prison’ and death at 40 or 50 years old.
During his sentencing remarks, Judge Dutton said: “On your way from court, in order to celebrate, you chose to go into an off licence and steal bottles of booze and you were caught and you did the very same thing the next day.
“Anybody on the face of it might conclude that you had completely rejected and thrown away any element of understanding or sympathy that the court might have had in you, by completely rejecting the whole purpose of a suspended sentence.”
He added: “For a young man under 21 you have a substantial number of convictions, many of them entirely related to abuse of alcohol and your complete inability to control yourself.
“The probation service have examined this in some depth and they have provided a report that indicates they have a degree of confidence that you have reached the stage where you are willing and prepared to tackle the problems with their help.”