A LAWYER joked there should be “great joy and rejoicing” that his alcoholic client should have made it to court of his own volition.

Daryl Cunningham, whose court record logs 306 previous offences, avoided a prison sentence as magistrates acknowledged his efforts to get himself dry and opted instead to send him to rehab on a 12 month community order.

The 42-year-old of no fixed address was convicted to possession of a knife near Great Western Hospital and stealing from a Tesco store in Calne.

Prosecuting, Keith Ballinger said police officers had picked Cunningham up outside the Swindon hospital in August. He had been sleeping by the roadside after visiting his partner in hospital. When they searched his rucksack, officers found a Stanley knife. Cunningham had claimed the blade belonged to his bricklayer nephew.

Cunningham failed to appear at his trial and was convicted in his absence.

Defending, Andrew Watts-Jones said Cunningham had struggled with drink and at times drug addiction for two decades: “The theft offences are pretty much par for the course. He’s a homeless, moneyless, benefit-less alcoholic. If unable to purchase alcohol, it needs to get nicked.”

But he was starting to show some signs of turning his life around after his most recent jail stint, Mr Watts-Jones said. That Cunningham had attended a probation appointment and his magistrates’ court date was a good sign. His solicitor said there should be “great joy and rejoicing that he’s done both”.

He urged magistrates not to give his client unpaid work: “My lengthy experience of such matters is that unpaid work for someone who is essentially street homeless is setting them up to fail.”

Magistrates sentenced Cunningham to a 12 month community order, with 20 rehabilitation activity days. He must pay £30 compensation to Tesco.

Martin Smith, chairman of the bench, said: “What we want you to do is not to coming in here costing the country a fortune in prison [stays], community orders and so on.

“It’s fantastic you’re not drinking. We want you to keep that up.”