Sunderland burglar told to buck up his ideas after repeat offending
A convicted Sunderland burglar has been warned by a judge to buck up his ideas after committing a further offence in pinching £294 of stock from Boots.
Gary Drinkald, 48, and a co-accused broke into Spire Property Group’s branch in city centre Stockton Road on Saturday, August 9, a court heard.
Two days later, Drinkald, of Elmwood Street, off New Durham Road, pleaded guilty to a burglary charge and in January was jailed for six-months, a sentence suspended for a year.
But on Friday, December 5, he turned again to crime by stealing a batch of fragrances from Boots in the city’s Bridges shopping centre, prosecutor Jade Houston said.
He returned to South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court on Monday, February 9, to plead guilty to a charge of theft from a shop.
In an update, the Probation Service said Drinkald was not complying well with the rehabilitation element of his suspended sentence and was in breach.
Ordering Drinkald to pay full compensation to Boots, District Judge Zoe Passfield told him: “This offence was committed before you were given that suspended sentence order.
“You’re in breach of the suspended sentence order and you need to put that right immediately or you’re looking at six months in custody.”
Ms Houston earlier told the hearing: “The circumstances are that CCTV staff at Boots have noticed this defendant entering the store.
“He took fragrances valued at £294 and left the store without making payment. Officers have viewed the CCTV and identified him.”
Drinkald has 26 previous convictions from 53 offences, the court was told.
Alastair Naismith, defending, said: “This theft comes before he was sentenced in relation to the suspended sentence order but after his guilty plea.
“Technically, he was subject to a warrant when this offence was committed.”