Drug addict jailed for stealing cleaning products

Ricardo Oswaldo Hartwright, 35, of Albert Avenue, Stapleford, admitted stealing toiletries and household items worth £32 from the Co-Op on Queens Road, Beeston, on January 20.

The theft was recorded on CCTV and Hartwright admitted the offence to police officers when he was arrested.

David Watts, mitigating, told the court Hartwright had been drug free for some time, but had begun using heroin again.

Mr Watts said: “He was doing the right thing. He was working and supporting his family. Because he was working away from home in Manchester he had difficulty getting his script for methadone.

“He got hooked again on drugs. It’s a battle - but it’s a battle he wants to fight.

“He has done his first week back at work. Now he knows arrangements can be made to get a script even when he is working away.

“He strikes me as someone who is motivated to address his addiction. He clearly can do it because he has done it before.”

The probation service told the court that Hartwright committed the new offence because he said he had no money to buy cleaning products.

Hartwright was now working as a roofer, earning £300 a week, and lived at home with his parents, but was the father of three children and responsible for a fourth child.

The court heard he owed the court £1,300 in outstanding fines.

The theft put Hartwright in breach of a suspended sentence for harrassment which was imposed in September last year

Addressing the judge, Mr Watts said: “I would ask you to give him a further chance. He knows this is the last chance saloon. If you do this there will be no toleration for any breach.”

Deputy district judge Timothy Gascoigne said a custodial sentence was inevitable because of the breaches, and sentenced Hartwright to a total of 22 weeks in jail.

He was also ordered to pay an £80 victim surcharge.