A MAN who robbed a newsagent of two charity boxes at knifepoint to fund his drug addiction has been jailed for three years.
Jamie Southworth, of no fixed abode, stole three charity boxes from shop counters in Corsham and took the contents from a further three over a six week period.
And while he was on bail the 21-year-old stole from one of the collections in the local church.
Claire Marlow, prosecuting, told Swindon crown court how the first offence took place at Chaplins newsagent in Corsham on Friday February 1.
She said after waiting until none of the staff were in the front of the shop he went in and snatched the charity box from the counter.
Although he wasn't seen taking the money which was being raised for the Mansion House Preschool he was identified from CCTV.
advertisement
Just over a week later on Monday February 11 he robbed Jasvir Singh, a member of staff at Barnett Brothers stores, also in Corsham, of two collection boxes.
Miss Marlow said he had armed himself with a carving knife from home and announced I have a knife' and producing the weapon.
He then took boxes raising money for the Samaritans and again the Mansion House Preschool.
The final offence took place on Monday March 10 when he stole the contents of three charity boxes from St Patrick's Church on Park Lane, Corsham.
She said a visitor to the church had seen him entering and leaving the place of worship at about 10.45am and again CCTV had caught him.
The court heard that the last offence was committed while he was on bail for the other matters.
When he was questioned he said he had taken the money so he could buy food and drugs.
Southworth pleaded guilty to theft in relation to Chaplins, robbery at Barnett Bros and burglary of the church.
He asked for two other matters, one of which was theft from a motor vehicle, to be taken into consideration.
Alex Daymond, defending, said his client was clearly suffering from a drug problem at the time of the offences.
He said he realised he was facing a jail term and was motivated to get off drugs and make the most of his time in prison improving himself.
Judge Douglas Field said: "You robbed a newsagent, a vulnerable convenience store with your face covered by a scarf and you had a knife. These are well established aggravating factors."
He imposed a two and a half year sentence for the robbery and theft and made a six month consecutive order for the burglary of the church.
"Churches are even more vulnerable and I am going to make a consecutive sentence because a deterrent sentence must come into this to make it plain to people like you that if they go into a church and take charity boxes and the like they will be seriously dealt with."
Posted by: Necker, Trowbridge on 9:27am Wed 7 May 08
Good news, another dreg and drain on society put inside.
Jasvir Singh is famous this week.
Same picture in both stories, nice bit of advertising for the shop.
Should have held some Nike(tm) trainers or Coka-cola(tm) to top it off.
Good news, another dreg and drain on society put inside.
Jasvir Singh is famous this week.
Same picture in both stories, nice bit of advertising for the shop.
Should have held some Nike(tm) trainers or Coka-cola(tm) to top it off.
Posted by: Alex Zivojinovich, Wiltshire on 6:01pm Fri 9 May 08
Now the robber will get all the drugs he needs and have a mobile thrown in. A nice room with a flat screen telly and nutricious meals 3 times a day. Who's larfin now people?
Now the robber will get all the drugs he needs and have a mobile thrown in. A nice room with a flat screen telly and nutricious meals 3 times a day. Who's larfin now people?
Posted by: donteventhinkit, Corsham on 10:57am Mon 12 May 08
[quote][bold]Alex Zivojinovich[/bold] wrote:
Now the robber will get all the drugs he needs and have a mobile thrown in. A nice room with a flat screen telly and nutricious meals 3 times a day. Who's larfin now people?[/quote] the gospel according to someone who has never seen inside a prison for any reason at all.
Alex Zivojinovich wrote:
Now the robber will get all the drugs he needs and have a mobile thrown in. A nice room with a flat screen telly and nutricious meals 3 times a day. Who's larfin now people?
the gospel according to someone who has never seen inside a prison for any reason at all.
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
Print
Email this
Comment
