Telford alcoholic snubbed court date to steal jeans
An alcoholic who "drinks to oblivion" to forget his problems was stealing jeans when he was supposed to be in court, magistrates have heard.
David Binnie admitted stealing £150 worth of jeans from Diffusion in Telford when he appeared before the town's magistrates on Monday.
The offence put the 27-year-old in breach of a community order imposed last year, and magistrates heard that he had also failed to attend court on February 4 – the day he stole the jeans – to face trial on an assault charge.
Binnie, of Springmeadow, Sutton Hill, Telford, also failed to answer bail last week on the theft charge.
In total, he was sentenced to seven months in prison, suspended for 12 months, with a 12-month supervision order and an alcohol treatment requirement.
For the breach of the community order he was given a separate three-year conditional discharge and was ordered to pay an £80 victim surcharge. Miss Sara Beddow said the assault charge arose from an incident with a woman who lives in the same shared property.
Binnie had forced himself into her room and shouted abuse at her before punching her. On the day he was due in court, he was caught after being spotted stealing two pairs of jeans from Diffusion.
He told police he was an alcoholic and would have sold the jeans to buy drink.
Probation officer Phil Kaleta said the alcohol treatment was what Binnie needed, even though he had defaulted on it before.
He said Binnie had a lot of problems in his life. "He drinks to oblivion to forget things," said Mr Kaleta.
Mr Jamie Wade, defending, said Binnie drank about nine litres of cider a day and if he could get hold of more alcohol, he would.
He said the assault had been very low level, and that he had been egged on by another man to steal the jeans when he should have been attending his trial.
