A crack addict from Lake who went on a 4-week crime spree, stealing over £700 worth of items from local shops, has been sent to prison for 16 weeks.
Warren Russell, 38, of Sandown Road in Lake, appeared at the Isle of Wight Magistrates Court on Tuesday and pleaded guilty to 11 charges of theft from a shop and 1 charge of common assault – including 1 offence to which he previously pleaded not guilty to.
Magistrates heard from the Crown Prosecution Service that Russell stole a mixture of items, from steaks to cosmetics, in the Sandown, Lake and Shanklin areas between 1st February and 1st March this year. Furthermore, Russell also committed an offence of theft on 24th December 2021.
Liz Miller, prosecuting, reeled off a list of items stolen by Russell over the month-long period which included No7 gift sets, Colgate toothpaste, a variety of meat steaks, salmon, ready meals, teeth whitening kits, laundry products and clothing. He also stole suncare products at Christmas to the value of £180.
The thefts, which the prosecution says were most likely carried out to order, took place at Boots, Sainsburys and Co-Op in Sandown, Morrisons in Lake and the Co-Op in Regent Street, Shanklin.
The court heard from Russell’s solicitor, Oscar Vincent, that the 38-year-old has issues with crack cocaine and relapsed due to a breakdown in his housing situation as a result of a family member withdrawing support. This relapse led to the thefts to fund the crack cocaine habit.
Mr Vincent highlighted Warren’s 32-month gap in shoplifting and 18-month gap in offending, as well as the fact that Russell had been clean of drugs for 2-3 weeks.
Magistrates activated a previous suspended sentence and added a further 4 weeks onto the sentence, resulting in a total prison term of 16 weeks.
People are quick to judge…he’s a decent guy with some problems.. didn’t bother to run a story on a guy that stole thousands from an elderly lady and a local charity…not a single mention ..far worse crime than nicking some dinner to survive.
nicking some dinner to survive is one thing. stealing to order to buy crack cocaine is something very different!
I agree and im not trying to justify what he’s done I’m simply pointing out it’s unfair coverage of the stuff that goes on..someone stealing thousands in charity money from a elderly lady didn’t even get a mention..
the blokes scum and everyone who knows him will agree, glad to see the back of him, well for a few weeks then it starts again
Decent or despicable, he is both victim (of drug trafficking) and perpetrator (of crimes). When will people, especially the Police, start to condemn drug dealing in our neighborhoods ?
It leads to such damage, to individuals and society – yet is allowed to continue unchecked. Here, I see the drug dealers going round every evening on motorbikes, all our efforts reporting it ignored.
Apparently the Police regard it as petty crime and low priority – well it’s not to us, as we literally see the area go to pot.
It’s unchecked because the war on drugs is lost. Example, we cannot grow coca leaves here or have big illicit poppy fields, but there are people who have worked to build and maintain supply lines for years and years. Cocaine seems to be awash in the UK but it’s not grown here. You cannot stop the demand end if you cannot stop the supply end and that is just not viable. We went to afghan for example and said we would burn the poppy fields, when we got there we realised the afghans will starve so we let them grow and sell it for it to be trafficked here as heroin…never gonna be able to stop it when its a transatlantic supply.
‘Warren’s 32-month gap in shoplifting’ Perhaps that should read ‘Warren’s 32-month gap in being caught shoplifting’?