Woman locked up despite guidelines

Magistrates in the Black Country have defied national guidelines instructing them not to lock up people for theft offences - jailing one defendant for 16 weeks.

With prison numbers at record levels, the independent Sentencing Advisory Panel issued new directions to courts yesterday advising justices to give community penalties instead of prison terms for theft offences.

But magistrates at Dudley ignored the plea, sending 24-year-old Nadine Bernard to prison for two months for attempting to steal five pairs of shoes worth £65 from a store.

The defendant was given a further two months behind bars for possession of a class A drug. She has a number of previous convictions for dishonesty.

Chairman of the bench Mr John Fellows handed out the sentence despite defence solicitor Mr David Bratt outlining the new guidelines during his mitigation for Bernard, who admitted both offences.

The Sentencing Advisory Panel, issuing a paper called Overarching Principles: Seriousness and New Sentences, said yesterday there should be a presumption that thieves, burglars and anyone convicted of dishonesty should not receive a jail term.

The guidance comes after the country’s jail population exceeded 83,000 for the first time last month.

Mr Bratt said: “It is clear that we are being given direction from on high that where possible we should defer from custody in cases of burglary.”

The court had heard Bernard, of Macefield Road, Wolverhampton, was caught stuffing five pairs of shoes into a bag in River Island in the Merry Hill Centre.

She was later found to have a bag of subutex, a heroin substitute, stuffed in her bra.

Mr Fellows sentenced her to eight weeks’ imprisonment for each offence, to run consecutively.

He did not mention the latest Sentencing Advisory Panel guidelines when passing the sentence.

The panel’s findings have come under fire from opposition ministers.

Nick Herbert, shadow justice secretary for the Conservatives, said: “People rightly expect that offenders who invade their home will be dealt with severely, and they have little confidence in weak community sentences.”

By Mark Mudie