A Newport man has admitted stealing a sandwich, crisps and wine to feed himself and sustain his alcohol addiction.
Ian Wathen, 41, of Barton Road in Newport, pleaded guilty to 2x theft from a shop and breach of a conditional discharge when he appeared at the Isle of Wight Magistrates Court on Friday (6th October).
Prosecuting, Lauren Stone told the court that on 10th August, Wathen entered TK Maxx in Newport and picked up 4 clothing items before heading to the door and exiting onto Pyle Street.
Upon leaving the clothes shop the alarms went off which prompted a PCSO to follow Wathen, who was seen discarding the clothes into a bin on nearby Town Lane.
All 4 items of clothing – worth around £96 – were recovered with tags still intact.
Just over a month later, on 21st September, at around midday, Wathen was seen drinking wine in Newport Town Centre. He was approached by Police officers who asked him where he got the alcohol from to which he replied ‘a shop on St James’ Street’.
Having soon discovered that this wasn’t in fact the case, Police established that the goods had been taken from Morrison’s in Newport. A sandwich and a packet of crisps were also found to have been stolen from the supermarket.
Wathen was arrested and taken to Newport Police Station where he admitted that he needed to eat and that he was an alcoholic.
By committing these offences, Wathen was in breach of a conditional discharge imposed in September of this year after he admitted stealing from Farnsworths.
Michael McGoldrick, defending Wathen, said that the 41-year-old was struggling with alcohol issues and that he is actively trying to seek help from the relative authorities.
Magistrates adjourned the case for sentencing until the 3rd November. A pre-sentence report is to be compiled by this time.
Poor old git jus nds help not persecution, its jus sad wen ppl try n get help but find out u can’t get an appt for months , wot are ppl ment 2 do it these situations, I jus hope he gets the help he nds n not jus a stupid few wk prison sentence,
Don’t worry bout him… Think you need help with your spelling and grammar.. Jesus!
Nitpicking at someone’s grammar and spelling is so pedantic.
Poor nothing, he may have alcohol issues but that is no excuse for theiving, many have troubles but manage to avoid criminality, your bleeding heart liberalism will not help the shops when they have to close becuase they are losing so much stock or they have to put their prices up to cover the losses, and I bet you would be the first one moaning when your local shop closes.
41 is young, weak people will always be weak if they are allowed to be.
I feel sorry for him he must be hungry and an alcoholic needs drink until they get help
Why not get a job then you can afford food and booze.
I dont think he can keep a job due to his issues. Many of times I’ve seen him asking for work on Facebook. People help him and then he can’t help himself by either drinking on the job or stealing.
Sainsbury’s is easier
Hahahaha you legend
There are plenty of jobs.
People just don’t want to work anymore.
Three days max or their benefits get stopped.
To many benefits and freebies.
To many concessions.
People are being crippled by the benefit system.
He could work if he really wanted to.