Man is jailed just days after being released
A THIEF with more than 200 convictions pleaded with a sheriff for support after being jailed for shoplifting at a Greenock supermarket just days after he was released from prison.
David Clark, 45, stole a quantity of items to the sum of £163 from Tesco on Dalrymple Street on Monday.
Defence solicitor Gerry Keenan told Sheriff Sukhwinder Gill that his client had been ‘bereft of funds’ after completing a custodial sentence last Friday and was attempting to obtain funds while waiting for his benefits to restart.
The court heard that Clark, of Cardwell Road, had stuffed his jacket with a ‘significant quantity’ of razor blades, as well as a set of headphones.
A fiscal depute said: “He handed the headphones to a member of staff and stated, ‘That’s all I’ve got’.
“It became apparent that he had other items in his jacket.
“He was initially carrying bottles of alcohol but was told it was too
early to purchase these items.”
Sheriff Gill responded: “How many razor blades does one man need?
“I thought I was going to hear from the Crown that he had gone in with a basket and taken food items.”
Mr Keenan said that Clark’s actions represented the ‘sad reality of modern life’ amid the cost of living crisis.
He added: “For someone like him, who comes of out of jail, to live off that money is pitiful.
“It’s a pretty desperate state of affairs.”
Sheriff Gill noted that around half of Clark’s litany of previous convictions were for shoplifting offences.
She jailed him for a period of four months, reduced from six months for his early plea.
As he was being led away to the cells, Clark said: “When is someone going to help me?”
Police Scotland had requested that a criminal anti-social behaviour order also be imposed on Clark, prohibiting him from entering areas of Greenock and Port Glasgow town centres.
Sheriff Gill described the order as ‘completely disproportionate’ to the offence he had committed.
She said: “I’m not going to impose that. In my mind, it would be a breach of your human rights.”
Clark had a plea of not guilty to a separate charge of shouting, swearing and acting in an aggressive manner at the Tesco store accepted by the Crown.