Prolific offender with ‘flagrant disregard for court orders' is back behind bars

Prolific offender Robert Smith was jailed for a week by Newcastle Magistrates Court on May, 25, for failing to comply with a supervision order imposed after he was released from a previous prison sentence.

Smith, 23, of Horizon House, Borough Road, Sunderland, admitted failing to keep in touch with his supervising officer on April 29 and May 11.

Magistrates sent him back to prison for a week ‘because the defendant has a flagrant disregard for court orders’.

Smith has been arrested more than 50 times and racked up 25 criminal convictions since 2007.

His offending – which has included assault, criminal damage, arson and theft – resulted in him receiving a three-year legal ban from five areas across the north of Sunderland in December 2017 .

He was serving a six-month custodial sentence for a racially aggravated affray at the time the Criminal Behaviour order was imposed..

Smith, formerly of Cranleigh Road, in Hylton Castle, Sunderland, was banned from setting foot on the estate, along with Town End Farm, Downhill, Red House and Castletown until December 2020.

He was jailed for 12 weeks in November last year after he admitted breaching the Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO) just weeks before it was due to expire.

Northumbria Police obtained a four-year civil injunction banning him from setting foot in specific areas of the city – including Castletown, Hylton Castle, Town End Farm, Red House and Downhill – after his release in February.

The order also prohibits him from causing a nuisance or annoyance, harassment, alarm or distress to any member of the public in the entire force area and from using abusive, insulting, threatening or intimidating language or behaviour.

Breaching the injunction means the possibility of a significant spell behind bars.

Inspector Don Wade, of Northumbria Police, said: “Smith has caused fear to our communities and has been a drain on police resources for well over a decade.

“His violent criminal reputation precedes him and he has used that reputation to commit multiple offences within a very small geographic area.

“Smith has shown a constant disregard for the law and his behaviour has had an intimidating impact on our communities, with many of his victims aware of his history of violent crime.”

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