Mansfield man pinched candles to sell for drugs after his methadone was stolen

CCTV recorded Tony Boyle leaving an Asda store without paying for the nine Yankee candles, on September 8, Mansfield Magistrates’ Court heard.

Neil Hollett, prosecuting, said he later told police he sold them for £5 each.

Probation officer Mark Burton said Boyle, who admitted theft, was on post-sentence supervision until January 2022 and work was being done to ‘break the revolving door of homelessness and custody’.

Mr Burton said: “Lately it has been felt he is doing better. He has finally secured accommodation and is keeping a lid on his substance misuse.”

He said Boyle's relapse had been triggered when he lost his dog and time he spent in hospital following an assault.

Ryan Higginbotham, mitigating, said Boyle, aged 54, deserved credit for his early guilty plea.

He said the ‘low-value shop theft was symptomatic of his drug misuse’, but ‘his risk of reoffending was reduced by the use of the methadone prescription’.

Mr Higginbotham said: “Were he to receive custody it could have unintended consequences.

“He would be released without an address or the support he needs.”

Boyle, of Broxtowe Drive, was handed a six-month community order with drug rehabilitation and ordered to pay a £95 surcharge, £90 compensation, and £85 costs.

Sentencing, magistrates told him: “If you breach any of the requirements, your sentence can be increased, and in all probability this will mean going back to prison.”

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