Disqualified drink driving thief is jailed

Stanislaw Cichosz of Newark Way Mansfield pleaded guilty at Mansfield Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, to stealing a bottle of vodka valued at £15.50 from Tesco on 20th April and attempting to steal another bottle on the same day.

He also admitted driving a car in the car park of Tesco on Jubilee Way with 138 mcg of alcohol in 100 ml of breath, (the legal limit is 35mcg) while disqualified and without insurance.

Cichosz, 43 was seen by staff at Tesco putting the bottle of vodka from a shelf into a basket.

He moved out of range of security cameras and the bottle was then seen to be missing.

Security staff challenged him and found a bottle of vodka in his coat.

Half an hour earlier Cichosz had been seen unsuccessfully attempting to steal another bottle of vodka from the store. He had left the store empty handed and drove his Skoda car away from the car park.

Police arrived, arrested him and his breath was tested.

Magistrates were told he had no insurance for the car and had two previous convictions for driving with excess alcohol.

In mitigation Cichosz said he had turned to alcohol after he had been assaulted during an attack in December 2014.

The incident had left him depressed and he had lost his job.

Magistrates imposed an immediate custody order of 16 weeks for the drink driving offence and driving while disqualified.

The chairman of the magistrates told him he had been driving in a public place in the afternoon where there were a lot of pedestrians.

He was disqualified from driving for five years, with a 12 month supervision order,a criminal court charge of £150 and a victim surcharge of £80.