A shoplifter who continued to target businesses despite a court order prohibiting him from entering certain stores has been sentenced to prison.
Adrian Marsh was barred from entering four supermarkets in Whitstable by a Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO) issued by Kent Police in April of this year.
However, the 41-year-old continued to commit crimes, committing five more thefts in the town in May, which led to his arrest.
He was charged with, and later admitted to, five counts of theft and breach of the CBO following an investigation by Canterbury’s Victim Based Crime Team.
Marsh was sentenced to 21 months in prison at Folkestone Magistrates’ Court on Friday, June 10, and was also barred from entering a number of stores upon his release.
Marsh was sentenced after stealing meat from a supermarket on Tankerton Road on Sunday, May 15. He went to four other stores in town and stole alcohol, meat, and fish nine days later.
His final offence occurred on Tuesday, May 31, in Prospect Way, when he stole meat and fish once more. The total value of the stolen goods in the five thefts exceeded £550.
Marsh, of Canterbury Road, was arrested on the afternoon of May 31, and the Victim Based Crime Team worked with him to connect him to all five offences.
He was barred from a store in Reeves Way from which he stole on Tuesday, May 24, and was charged with violating the CBO.
Kent Police is committed to protecting local businesses from the attentions of repeat offenders like Marsh,’ said Sergeant Rachel Mulder of Canterbury’s Victim Based Crime Team. CBOs, such as the one we obtained in this case, are intended to do just that.
‘Marsh ignored the opportunity to stop his offending after the court order was issued, and the sentence he has now received demonstrates how seriously the court takes such violations. The message to frequent shoplifters is clear: keep breaking the law, and you will be imprisoned.’
