A Manchester shop thief has been jailed for his fourth breach of a Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO).
Neil White, 57, of Adcock Walk, Ardwick, admitted being in breach of the order when he appeared in custody at Manchester and Salford Magistrates' Court on Monday, 20th April 2020.
District Judge Margaret McCormack heard that White, who has 96 previous convictions mainly for offences of shop theft and public order, was arrested by officers when he was spotted in Piccadily Gardens, in breach of a condition not to enter the city centre.
White insisted that he had accidentally strayed into the city centre on his way to collect his methadone script. Noting that it was White's fourth breach of the order, Judge McCormack clearly doubted the credibility of his explanation.
White was sentenced to 10 weeks' custody.
On being handcuffed and led away from the dock, White rudely shouted at the Judge: "Ten weeks? Ten weeks for one day? You fucking horrible cow."
The Manchester Evening News article seems to suggest that White, despite breaching the order on three previous occasions, has not previously been jailed for that offence.
If that is the case, I find it quite remarkable that such habitual defiance of the order - even if the breaches were very minor in nature - has not been dealt with more firmly until now.
The maximum penalty for breaching a CBO is 5 years' custody and even a relatively minor breach can pass the custody threshold when aggravating factors are taken into account.
If the court makes an order the person subject must be held to it, otherwise it undermines confidence in the judicial process.
I am reminded of a case from not all that long ago when a man appeared in court for breaching a Domestic Violence Protection Order (DVPO) that had been imposed by Magistrates the previous morning.
To his credit he admitted the breach, but it was so flagrant he didn't have anywhere else to manoeuvre.
The police prosecutor explained that the man in question, who sat with his head bowed in the dock, had left court the previous day and gone straight to the property of his partner, which he was banned from doing as a condition of the DVPO.
The police were called and found the man sitting on a bench in the garden of the property. For whatever reason, despite having been told an order had been made just a few hours earlier, the police gave the man words of advice and watched him walk away down the road. The police made it quite clear to the man that he was in breach of the order and would be arrested if he returned to the property.
An hour later the same officers returned to the property to double-check that all was well with the lady inside. What do you know? The man was back in the garden for a second time.
The man's solicitor stood up and explained to the Bench that her client misunderstood the conditions imposed a day earlier. He was under the impression that he could leave court and go and retrieve personal belongings from his partner's property. In her opinion it was a minor breach and could be adequately dealt with by a small fine - a fine of £50 would be appropriate for one day's breach.
She was totally off beam with what the Bench was thinking and was visibly shocked when the Presiding Justice announced that the Bench disagreed it was a minor breach.
The Presiding Justice explained along the lines of: "Even if we accept you misunderstood the conditions of the order on the first occasion, you were in no doubt about those conditions when you returned to your partner's property only an hour later.
"You have flagrantly disregarded the order of the court; you have ignored the words of advice given to you by the police a short time beforehand."
Magistrates' sentenced the man to 4 weeks' immediate custody.
Quite right too.
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