Drug-troubled thief thanks court for giving him a chance

Chesterfield magistrates’ court heard on Friday, July 1, how Graham Raymond Gibbons, 37, of Arundel Close, Chesterfield, stole the power bank chargers from a Lidl store in Chesterfield but after considering his fight with drugs he was given a 12 month conditional discharge.

Prosecuting solicitor Ian Shaw said: “The store manager at Lidl heard the alarms sound at the entrance and she saw a male walking out and she asked if she could have a word with him but he carried on walking.

“Then he stopped and she asked if she could carry out a check and he didn’t reply and she noticed he had a black carrier bag but he ran off.

“She found him on Avenue Road, Chesterfield, and he pointed under a car and the bag was found there and inside were the power bank chargers valued at £34.95.”

Gibbons told police someone in a pub had given him £25 to get hold of some power bank chargers and he had gone into Lidl without intending to steal but when he saw the chargers he stole them.

Mr Shaw added: “Gibbons said it was stupid and he regretted what he had done as a moment of madness.”

Gibbons, who has a previous conviction for possessing heroin and crack cocaine, pleaded guilty to stealing the chargers after the incident on June 16.

Defence solicitor Rob Sowter said: “He was tempted to steal the chargers by something someone had said earlier in the day.”

Gibbons described himself as a significant thief when he was younger, according to Mr Sowter, and he has a previous drugs conviction from January but that is where his problems have laid in the past.

Mr Sowter added: “His various medication interacts and sometimes they block each other out and that can affect his mood and he can have a relapse and he doesn’t want to go back to that life.”

Magistrates sentenced Gibbons to a 12 month conditional discharge and ordered him to pay a £20 victim surcharge and £85 costs.

They warned him that if he commits another offence in the next 12 months he will be brought back to court and re-sentenced for the theft of the power bank chargers and any new offence.

Gibbons told the court: “I would like to thank you for giving me this opportunity and this chance.”