Man stole £1,000 of electric fans from Mansfield store '˜to help him breathe'

A man stole nearly £1,000 of electric fans from a Mansfield store to help him breathe during a heatwave, magistrates heard.
Mansfield Magistrates Court.Mansfield Magistrates Court.
Mansfield Magistrates Court.

Sean Turner loaded his trolley with £989 of goods and draped a towel over it at Dunelm Mill, on April 2, but was spotted by a member of the public as he left.

He abandoned the trolley and drove off, but the witness took his registration and police were able to stop him shortly afterwards on the A38.

He was last in court in April 2017 when he was fined for shoplifting.

Morgan Hogarth, mitigating, said Turner, a father of two, stopped offending in 2006, when his youngest child was a toddler, but started again in 2017 when his relationship with his partner broke down.

He said that Turner, who suffers from gout, arthritis and breathing troubles, needs “air movement to assist him in breathing.”

“He changed his mind and abandoned the trolley and tried to leave,” said Mr Hogarth.

“As soon as he left the store he completed the offence.”

Turner, 46, of Wild Street, Derby, admitted theft when he appeared at Mansfield Magistratres Court, on Friday.

Probation officer Sarah Alderton said boredom and lonelieness, as well as financial problems, motivated his offending, and he suffers from panic attacks.

A 12 month community order, with 30 sessions of a thinking skills programme and ten rehabilitation activity days, was imposed.

He was fined £125 and ordered to pay an £85 government surcharge.