A Newport man who stole 3 pairs of sunglasses from Boots in Newport to fund his drug habit has been ordered to pay £150 in compensation.
Ross Minter, 45, of Whitcombe Road in Carisbrooke, pleaded guilty to theft from a shop when he appeared at the Isle of Wight Magistrates Court on Tuesday (1st August).
Ann Smout, prosecuting, told the court that on the 11th July at around 11:00, management staff at Boots in Newport saw CCTV that showed Minter entering the store and taking 3 pairs of sunglasses and heading towards the baby section at the back of the store.
In this section of the store, Minter cut the tags off the sunglasses and left the store making no attempts to pay. The goods totalled around £150.
Minter previously appeared on Island Echo back in May after he admitted stealing a power drill from B&Q.
A report read out by the Probation service told the court how Minter was trying to get clean and stop using heroin, a drug he has been using for almost 20 years. They also added that Minter understands the stupidity of his actions and the consequences of them.
Defending Minter, Barry Arnett said that the 45-year-old was determined to change his ways and desperate to go onto a methadone script.
Magistrates handed Minter a new 12-month community order with 10 rehabilitation activity days attached. He was ordered to compensation of £150 and a £114 surcharge fee.
Why on earth do courts fine someone who is skint and steals to buy heroin – he will prioritise heroin over everything – including paying fines from his benefit money – seems pointless fining him – all you are doing is moving taxpayer money from the benefits agency to the courts – no impact on the junkie at all – he never earn’t the money, so won’t feel a loss at all.
A better deterrent would be to lock him up and let him experience cold turkey – far more effective as a punishment, actually causes him pain and will be beneficial to him in the long run.
Islander, do you realise that it’s easier to get drugs in prison than it is on the streets.?
You don’t need money or sunglasses to pay for them either {but you won’t sit down properly for a few days..}
ha – i should have specified – I didnt mean prison – I just meant lock him up in a room, provide food and water and let him go cold turkey
Yey! Ross is back again. Only took him 2 months
Should of gone Poundland, sunglasses only £2 and reading spec too.
Put the scum in jail or a better idea bring in Saudi Arabian law and execute drug offenders
Ron I disagree with your thoughts.
As I mentioned earlier it is really easy to get drugs in jail so it is no deterrent.
I very much disagree with executing drug offenders as there are many disabled and sick people who benefit from the use of cannabis.
If you can just imagine for a moment being in severe pain and the only relief that you can get is using cannabis while knowing full well that it is illegal and you will be hauled before the courts if found out..
This is a very frustrating situation for these people having to live a life in pain.
heroin is a far cry from cannabis
How about using legal, prescription medication for the pain relief, or don’t they have the required side effects that ‘home-grown’ remedies such as cannabis do?
fair comment
sorry but disagree people who are sick or disabled can use cbd with out the high as cannabis is additive and expensive too .also there is too much shoplifting going on on this island and it needs to be stopped with more prosecutions
As long as heroin is his mistress, nothing, and I mean nothing anyone can do apart from forcibly causing him to withdraw will stop him doing absolutely anything he can to ensure his next fix. Like islander said fining him is useless. The are not enough resources available to deal with heroin users. He is 100% guaranteed to reoffend.
exactly Dave – what is actually needed is a realisation that he has got himself into a cycle of drug use, theft, drug use, theft etc and an intervention is needed to break that cycle, however, unless he has the will to stop, then no amount of help will make any difference.
he will either stop or it is unlikely he will reach 50 years old