A serial shoplifter has been fined £74 by the courts after stealing £5 of meat from Tesco Express in Lake.
James Smith, 37, of Station Avenue in Sandown, pleaded guilty to a single charge of theft from a shop when he appeared before the Isle of Wight Magistrates Court on Tuesday.
Liz Miller, prosecution, explained to the court that CCTV footage captured Smith entering the Tesco Express store on 1st November last year. Footage showed him walking towards the refrigeration area before filling 2 white carrier bags with bacon and other meats to the value of £5.
He left the store without making any attempt to pay, the court heard.
The CCTV footage was handed over to Police and a local officer identified Smith, which led to a postal summons being issued.
Magistrates heard from the prosecution that Smith was just 5 months into a 12-month community order for a previous theft when the latest offence occurred.
In 2020, James Smith appeared in Island Echo’s court roundup for 6 thefts, resisting a Police constable and possession of a Class A drug (methadone). Then, in May last year, Island Echo reported that Smith had stolen steak and a whole chicken from the Co-Op in Shanklin. Then, just a month later, Smith was back in the news for stealing £40 of meat from a shop in East Cowes.
Magistrates fined Smith £74 and ordered him to pay £5 compensation.
I bet every time in court he tells the judge a load of porkies
That won’t be enough to turn him vegetarian !
Wow, £5 for two white carrier bags full of bacon and other meats.
Sod Aldi, I know where I am shopping now.
I’m just waiting for next week’s installment in this on going farce, he’ll pay the fine (lol) no he won’t, from benifits that we pay for anyway, and just do it again, magistrates are a joke.
filling two carrier bags with bacon and other meats…to the value of 5 quid….I doubt he even got a quarter of one bag for a fiver
That’ll teach him.
So much so,I doubt he’ll ever do it again.
Obviously fining him isn’t a deterrent as he’s done this time after time before. So, what would be a deterrent? I’m not sure even a prison sentence would stop him as he’d go back to doing exactly the same thing on his release. And how long can you lock someone up for shoplifting?
I’m going to take a wild stab that he’s unemployed (or unemployable), has a drug habit, has too much time on his hands, and finds it easy to fund his habit by stealing from shops and selling the goods. So, what do you do with someone like that?
I know this chap, he ain’t all bad, believe it or not. All that you say is true.
Prison don’t work, makes it worse.
People like this, need help, for his sake and societies sake.
He needs involuntary locking up at a re-hab center for at least six months, with professional staff and doctors to HELP him.
It would be much cheaper then prison, and for society and the tax payers in the long run.
Then hopefully he will start contributing to society and not keep taking.
Expect the huge benefits he receives are insufficient. One of the persons ,our council are so pleased to fund.
So was it meat he stole or cereals??!!
He ought to be very grateful that we’re not living in an Islamic State. They have a zero tolerance to the likes of James Smith. His hand would have been chopped off, problem solved. I do think sometimes we’re far to gentle on our antisocial yobs.
The one thing the Islamic state got right
I can’t believe someone is saying “if this was an Islamic state” I bet if he was from one you would say send him back they come here because the punishment is less it’s mad how whatever is the worst you can think of is best depending on the situation! He’s robbed a bacon sandwich from a multi million pound business no one will notice or care, his life is obviously a tough one at the moment, and you would pack him him off to have his hands cuts off I think your the one who needs their hands cut off so you can’t comment on these petty crimes spreading more hate than he ever had.