Shropshire drug addict stole parents' TV to fund habit

Alexander Lyon returned to the family home after previously serving a three-year jail term for robbery, Telford magistrates heard.

The 26-year-old admitted one charge of theft and one charge of fraud when he appeared at the court. He had traded in the 42-inch TV for £125.

Mr Adam Warner, prosecuting, said the defendant's own father had reported him to the police after the TV vanished from the property on Monday. Mr Warner said: "The defendant has a history of drug use and drug-related crime. He was sentenced for robbery and possession of a bladed article in May 2014 and received a three-year sentence.

"He was released from prison and was on licence to live at his parents' address. He has been using class A drugs since his release.

"On September 19, both his parents left him at the house and his mother jokingly told him not to take the TV because he had previously taken a TV set from them. At 4pm his father returned to find the TV missing and there was no sign of forced entry at the property. He phoned Cash Brokers to inquire if the set had been taken there and it had. He paid £162.50 to get it back."

When Lyon, of White Lodge, Shawbury, was interviewed he told officers he stole the TV because he wanted money to buy drugs.

Mr Warner said the family revealed that there had been other incidents, but this was the first time they reported him to the police after their efforts to help him failed.

Miss Emma Lineton, defending, asked the magistrates to give Lyon credit for his early guilty pleas.

The magistrates jailed him for three months for the offences.

He was also ordered to pay £80 victim surcharge. There was no order for costs or compensation.

The court heard that Lyon managed to stop taking illegal drugs while he was a serving prisoner, but since being released 12 months ago he had fallen back into his old ways.

He was jailed in May 2014 for robbing a post office in Shrewsbury where he threatened a female worker with a knife.