Drug addict jailed for stealing jeans

A drug addict who snatched three pairs of jeans from a discount clothes store just days after he was spared prison by magistrates has been jailed.

John Seymour, 25, of Gill Street, Netherton, was handed a nine-month conditional discharge on May 14 after being convicted of taking four cans of lager from an off-licence in Lye, Stourbridge. But less than a week after the reprieve he was caught red-handed trying to sneak the jeans, worth £75, out of Matalan in the Merry Hill Centre.

At Dudley Magistrates’ Court yesterday, Seymour was jailed for two months after he pleaded guilty to theft on May 20. He also admitted breaching his conditional discharge.

Miss Julie Savage, prosecuting, told the court Seymour had been captured on store CCTV at Spar in Lye on May 10 putting four cans of lager into a bag and leaving the shop without paying.

Police recognised the man on tape as Seymour and arrested him on May 14. Later that day he was given a conditional discharge, Miss Savage said.

But the court heard that on May 20, Seymour stuffed three pairs of jeans into a rucksack at the Matalan store in the Merry Hill shopping complex before leaving the shop. He was stopped by security staff just outside the store and admitted stealing the jeans when interviewed by police.

Miss Savage said Seymour told officers he had intended to sell the clothing to pay for drugs and he tested positive for both cocaine and heroin at the station.

Mr David Wilkins, defending Seymour, said his client was distraught when he committed the offence because his father had been diagnosed with cancer earlier that day.

Mr Wilkins told the court it was the news had triggered Seymour’s latest theft, and said there were “signs his offending occurs at moments of weakness”.

He pleaded with the bench to for a community penalty or a suspended sentence.

But bench chairman Eric Stevens said: “We find no other way of dealing with you. These offences are exacerbated by your previous record and it appears that non-custodial sentences have no effect on you whatsoever.”

Mr Stevens sentenced him to eight weeks in jail for theft and six weeks for breaching a conditional discharge, to run concurrently.