Worcester News

Addict not jailed despite record

By Richard Vernalls

7:10pm Sunday 21st March 2010

A 25-year-old drug addict whose own solicitor pointed out his “appalling record” has avoided jail for criminal damage and handling stolen goods.

Luke Jones had already admitted handling a stolen digital camera and was found guilty of causing £80 damage to a Vauxhall Corsa at trial when he appeared at magistrates court on Wednesday, March 10.

Jones was arrested in the early hours of Friday, August 7, last year after police spotted him coming out of Lechmere Crescent, off Hallow Road, Worcester, after a call from a suspicious member of the public.

Then in Malvern, at 7.10am on October 2009 at Lower Howsell Road, police arrested Jones and another man after they got into an unlocked car parked on its owner’s drive and fell asleep.

The pair were discovered when the owner found them asleep inside, along with an empty can of Stella Artois lager and tin foil later found to contain traces of heroin.

Police were called and the men arrested. Matt Dodson, prosecuting, said: “The owner later found the seat was wet and, assuming it was urine, had it valeted at a cost of £80.”

Under interview, Jones of Yorke Avenue, in Brierley Hill, West Midlands, said the pair had only got in the car to get out of the rain and denied urinating on the seat, explaining he must have spilt the lager.

The latest offences also put him in breach of two conditional discharges, which he admitted.

David Wilkins, his solicitor, said Jones was “a deeply troubled man, with a history of drug addiction, mental health problems and an appalling record. He fully expects custody.”

For handling stolen goods he received a 16-week jail term suspended for 12 months and was ordered to pay £80 compensation for the seat valet.

He was given a supervision order and told to start a drug treatment programme with deputy district judge Nigel Hodkinson telling him he’d reached “the end of the line”.

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