Terminally Ill Thief Jailed

A terminally ill shop thief has been jailed for twelve weeks.

The bench at Swindon Magistrates' Court heard that Jeremy Barrett, 48, admitted stealing bottles of spirits from a Morrisons supermarket using foil-lined bags made specially to evade the store's security scanners. Barrett, who hails from Bristol, was already subject to an eight-week suspended sentence order at the time of his shopping spree.

Mark Glendenning, defending, said his client was in poor health: "Mr Barrett unfortunately was diagnosed with cancer a month ago, with a three month prognosis.

"His diagnosis means he's continuing to drink or he's drinking more than he did, perhaps understandably."

Mr Glendenning asked the bench to impose a community order, so that his client could get further help with his drug and alcohol problems.

Instead the bench, clearly undistracted by Christmas spirit, chose to activate the full eight-weeks of Barrett's suspended sentence. It also imposed a four week prison sentence for this most recent theft, to be served consecutively.

Barrett must also pay a £115 victim surcharge.