Raider in £3,000 shop theft given court order

A prolific criminal who ransacked a fancy dress and sweet shop in the Black Country, escaping with £3,000 of stock, has been spared an immediate prison sentence.

Daniel Billiard trashed Sweet & Fancy in Bloxwich town centre in the dead of night. Devastated owner Debbie Jones found the place had been turned over as she opened for business on July 16 last year.

Mrs Jones said, in a victim impact statement read at the hearing at Wolverhampton Crown Court on Friday, that she had struggled to come to terms with the crime.

"I was devastated by the burglary. This shop is my livelihood," she said.

Billiard from Wolverhampton Road, Pelsall, was filmed acting suspiciously outside the shop by CCTV cameras mounted on a nearby building, said prosecutor Nick Smith. He was arrested in Bloxwich High Street two days later and subsequently picked out at an identity parade.

The 26-year-old criminal has a string of previous convictions that include burglary and shoplifting.

Mr Mark Sharman, defending, said: "He has a drug problem and has reached a turning point in his life. He realises that unless he sorts himself out now he will lose everything."

Roofer Billiard admitted burglary and attempted burglary. He was given a two-year community order under supervision, ordered to attend a drug rehabilitation course and given a four-month night-time curfew.

Judge Martin Walsh said: "This offence was committed in the face of an acute drug problem. That explains but does not excuse your behaviour. I could send you to prison for a considerable time or deal with the case that will be to the benefit of you and, in the long-term, the public at large.

"I am going to give you the opportunity to receive treatment but if you fail to take this chance you will be going to prison for significantly longer than 12 months."