Worksop man rehabilitated after ‘falling in with bad crowd’ and stealing

Timothy Elliott took £62 of chilled meats and chocolate bars from Sainsbury's, on Newcastle Avenue, on December 29, but was later identified by CCTV, said prosecutor Rebecca Williams.

At the time he was subject to a 15-week sentence, suspended for 12 months, for eight counts of shoplifting, on December 6, last year.

But probation officers said Elliott had engaged well, stopped taking illicit substances and was ‘focused on an offending-free future.’

Pari Seeley, mitigating, said he didn't begin offending until June last year after 'he got in with a bad crowd and started taking drugs.'

He went downhill, his partner ended the relationship and his family would not speak to him until he became drug-free, she said.

The former plumber now works full-time as a builder, is on a methadone programme and attends a substance misuse charity.

"He has not been entrenched in a drug lifestyle and unable to find a way out,” Ms Seeley said. “He has done everything he possibly can to rehabilitate himself.

“If you activate the suspended sentence he will lose his job and accommodation and he will be surrounded by people who are taking drugs.

"This is a real chance for Mr Elliott to never come back here again.”

Elliott, aged 42, of John Street, admitted theft, when he appeared at Mansfield Magistrates Court, on Tuesday.

He was fined £106 with a £34 surcharge, £62 compensation and £85 costs, and the suspended sentence was extended by one month.

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