Mansfield man who stole Christmas presents for his children working to reunite family

Mansfield Magistrates' Court heard Michael Nelson left B&M Bargains without paying for £63 of toys, on November 6, at about 3.30pm.

Alexis Mercer, prosecuting, said Nelson was followed by a security officer and asked to come back, but refused, put the items on the floor and ran off.

He was later identified by CCTV and found with small quantities of mamba, Pregabalin and Diazepam.

The court heard he received a community order for shop theft in June 2020.

Nelson, aged 28, of Ninth Avenue, Forest Town, admitted theft, possession of class B and class C drugs.

Donna Pursglove, mitigating, said: "I am going to ask you to deal with him in a lenient manner. The community order is now concluded.

"He is a young man who has worked, on and off, since the age of 18. He has four children with two ex-partners.”

Depression

She said Nelson was homeless at the time, and using the Pregabalin and Diazepam to tackle depression.

Ms Pursglove said: “He started to use mamba when he was living at the YMCA.

“It is not an appropriate place for people to be. Drugs are rife. There are a lot of peers who are in and out of the the criminal justice system.

“He says ‘I was not in a good place. It was really a stupid thing to do’.”

She said he is now privately renting in a shared house, has a full-time warehouse job through an agency and has re-engaged with a substance misuse service.

Ms Pursglove said: “He has stopped using these types of drugs for a month.

“He is in a really good place at this time.

"He has a good understanding of what is going wrong with his life. It's clear he just wants to move forward, become drug-free and have proper contact with his children.”

Nelson was given a 12-month conditional discharge, fined £106 and ordered to pay a £34 surcharge and £85 costs.

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