Man who had 'flagrant disregard for people and their property' sentenced after making off with fuel

Graham Armstrong, aged 35, of no fixed abode appeared at Telford Magistrates Court on Tuesday where magistrates heard he had pleaded guilty on October 27 to taking £15 of fuel from the Battlefield petrol station on November 24, 2021 without paying for it.

He had also admitted admitted driving off from Battlefield petrol station with fuel valued at £70.15 on Friday, December 10, 2021.

Armstrong had admitted breaching a restraining order by swearing at a named person when he ran past their home on October 16, 2021, and by going to a street in Shrewsbury in a black Land Rover on November 8, 2021.

He had also admitted breaching the same order in Shrewsbury on Friday, November 12, 2021 when he drove into a named Shrewsbury street in a black Land Rover. The order had been imposed by Kidderminster Magistrates Court on November 26, 2018.

Magistrates reimposed an order not to enter a named street or contact a named person directly or indirectly.

Armstrong has also been banned from going to the named road in Shrewsbury until May 20, 2025.

Magistrates decided to hand down a total custodial sentence of 20 weeks but suspended it for 18 months, because of the length of time since the offences were committed and the fact that no further offending had taken place.

Magistrates handed down their sentence without the usual pre-sentence report after being told that Armstrong did not attend an appointment with the probation service for the report to be compiled.

They decided after taking Armstrong's guilty pleas into account that only a custodial sentence could be justified because "the defendant has a flagrant disregard for people and their property".

Armstrong was also ordered to pay back the costs of the fuel taken from Battlefield Petrol Station and to pay prosecution costs of £185 and a £122 victims surcharge.