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Jailed: Black Country drug addict stole from his mother to feed his habit

A drug addict who wouldn't stop pestering his mother has been put behind bars and given a further ban from having any contact with her for the next five years.

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Paul Bentley had repeatedly ignored earlier legal orders barring him from bothering Sandra after he stole cash and a laptop from her in order to feed his drug habit, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.

The 30-year-old had frequently been sent to prison for breaking the terms of a court order to keep away from his mother, said Mr Patrick Sullivan, prosecuting.

But as soon as he was released he made a beeline to her home in Eastfield.

Mr Sullivan concluded: "The only time she gets any rest is when he is locked up."

Bentley was jailed for 12 weeks and given a non-molestation order banning him from either contacting his mother or going within 100 metres of her house on January 14 last year after burgling the property and stealing a laptop.

He was back before magistrates barely a month later on February 27 after reappearing at the address after being freed from jail and was put back behind bars for eight weeks.

The process was repeated on March 31 when Bentley was sentenced to 16 weeks custody but still he did not get the message and was jailed again for a carbon copy offence on May 25.

Then on September 7 he was sent to prison for stealing £40 cash from his mother after getting into the address through an insecure door.

The defendant was freed once more on September 23 and police found him at his mother's house less than a month later on December 18. He was ejected but returned on Boxing Day, concluded Mr Sullivan.

Mr Jason Patel, defending, said Bentley was homeless when not at either the home of his mother or in prison but had managed to stop taking drugs recently.

"He has been providing negative drug tests," explained the lawyer.

Mr Patel also maintained that some of the visits to the home of the mother had been at her invitation.

Bentley, of no fixed address, was jailed for eight months and given a new five year restraining order after admitting the latest two breaches of the previous court order.

Judge Advocate Michael Elsom told him: "You are putting your mother in an impossible situation. It is heartbreaking for any mother to see their son becoming wayward and committing offences. It is a shameful story."

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