Homeless man demanded Retford cops lock him up with scissors threat

A homeless man who took a pair of scissors to Retford police station and warned he would "do something stupid or harm someone if he wasn't arrested," has been locked up.
Mansfield Magistrates CourtMansfield Magistrates Court
Mansfield Magistrates Court

Joseph Carrigan placed the scissors on the floor, on August 28, and admitted stealing £40 of laundry products from Boyes, to buy heroin, earlier that day.

Prosecutor Sarah Sanderson said he had 25 convictions for 41 previous offences, and was jailed in April for shop theft.

He also had a previous conviction for possession of a blade from February 22, this year.

Treve Lander, mitigating, said: "My instructions are to invote you to give him a further custodial sentence.

"He was released on Friday, August 24, and he had nowhere to go," he said.

"He was given a methadone prescription but that was taken from him by other prison inmates.

"He very quickly slipped into heavy drug use."

Carrigan, 37, admitted possession of the offensive weapon, and theft, when he appeared at Mansfield Magistrates Court, on Thursday.

He recieved 26 weeks in prison and was ordered to pay £40 compensation to the store.

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