Drug addict stole £1k musical instrument (From York Press)
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Drug addict Melanie Small stole £1k musical instrument
8:25am Wednesday 9th January 2013 in News By Megi Rychlikova, megi.rychlikova@thepress.co.uk
A THIEF prescribed methadone to deal with her heroin addiction used her trip to the pharmacy to steal other drugs, York magistrates heard.
Gill Sandall, prosecuting, said when an assistant went to fetch the on-duty pharmacist at Boot’s East Parade branch in Heworth, York, to administer the methadone on October 6, Melanie Jane Small reached over the unattended counter and grabbed some diazepam tablets.
She then walked out without her methadone, a heroin substitute. She was arrested nearby and released on bail.
A week later, she worked with another thief to steal a piccolo worth nearly £1,000 from Banks Music Store in Lendal.
He stretched his arms out to block the view of the instore CCTV while she removed the instrument, similar to the one pictured above, from the display.
Small told her solicitor an accomplice handed the piccolo in to Bridlington Police Station, but Ms Sandall said she could not confirm whether that had happened.
Small, 30, of Fifth Avenue, Tang Hall, York, pleaded guilty to two charges of theft and was given a community order with 12 months’ supervision and nine months’ drug rehabilitation. She was also ordered to pay £170 costs and a £60 victim surcharge.
The magistrates made no order for compensation for the piccolo, because of Small’s claim it had been handed in to police and because they were aware the shop could sue her through the civil courts for its full value.
For Small, Craig Robertson said the diazepam theft was opportunistic. The court heard after her arrest she was banned from the store and had problems getting her methadone. “She has had a lot of difficulty because of her stupidity,” said Mr Robertson.
The piccolo was stolen to pay for drugs but after the theft Small had wanted to take it back. She and her partner were hoping to move away from York and start a new life.
