Mansfield shoplifter stuck in ‘depressing revolving door’ of prison recall, release and re-offending

Nathan Smith helped himself to four bottles of vodka on May 7 and two more the following day before pinching £205 headphones and speakers, Mansfield magistrates were told.

Between May 12 and 17 he stole 16 bottles of vodka before taking three bottles of rose wine and two of Jack Daniels on May 24.

He repeatedly breached a criminal behaviour order, made in January, which bans him from the supermarkets on Jubilee Way South and Chesterfield Road

Mark Stocks, mitigating, said Smith's record consists of low-level dishonesty and 17 breaches of court orders. Since 2016 he has only received one non-custodial sentence.

"He is released and the cycle begins again - it is a revolving door," he said. "They are all low-value instances of unsophisticated, nuisance shop thefts."

Smith, 29, care of Ruddington Court, Mansfield, admitted nine thefts and five breaches of the order on May 18 and was recalled to prison for three weeks.

Mr Stocks said the probation service has never assessed him to see if there are any alternatives to more custody and a chance to “break this pointless, depressing cycle.”

The court heard Smith doesn’t attend probation meetings and isn’t manageable in the community.

But Mr Stocks said Smith, who is homeless, steals to fund a drug habit but has had no support to address his addiction or accommodation problems.

“If he is still not suitable for a non-custodial sentence after that then fair enough,” he said.

"But I do not think that we as a society can accept a situation where we write this man off and condemn him to the same cycle.”

On Thursday, the presiding magistrate told him: “We believe the offending is persistent and despite having a criminal behaviour order in place to ban you from Tesco you have continued to breach this.

"We believe we have no alternative to a custodial sentence.”

He was jailed for 20 weeks and ordered him to pay £495 compensation to Tesco.