Shoplifter begs for prison term

2:50pm Tuesday 7th October 2008

A SHOPLIFTER who defied court orders with his “blatant” thieving has been jailed for 20 weeks.

York magistrates and police allowed Glenn Peter Sheekey to walk free time after time.

Only when he pleaded with the justices to lock him up so he could kick his drug habit did they jail him.

Assistant prosecutor Steven Ovenden said one store manager who witnessed the shoplifter in action described his thefts as “blatant”.

Sheekey, 39, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to three shop thefts and possessing cannabis.

“He wants one thing and one thing only – a period in custody, so he can rid himself of this addiction,” said his solicitor Julian Tanikal. Magistrates jailed him for 12 weeks, plus eight weeks previously suspended for burgling a bar’s kitchen.

Mr Ovenden told York magistrates that their colleagues gave Sheekey a community order to tackle his drug habit on September 12.

On September 20, a plain clothes policeman spotted him stealing deodorants worth £64.48 from Superdrug. He was arrested and bailed.

On September 25, he appeared in court and was handed the suspended sentence for the burglary.

Three days later, the store manager at the Spar shop in Heslington Road witnessed his “blatant” shoplifting when he stuffed bacon and cheese worth £38 into a shoulder bag and walked out.

He was arrested on October 1 after being identified from the shop’s CCTV. Police found cannabis on him.

He was again bailed and the next day went into Morrisons twice in ten minutes, walking out with bottles of vodka on each occasion. Together, the five stolen bottles of spirits were worth £51.85.

Police kept him in custody and when magistrates heard the full list of his crimes, they locked him up.

“He is a very poor shoplifter,” said Mr Tanikal, who added Sheekey had been desperate to raise funds for heroin, which he had used for 20 years.

In the past, he had held down council jobs in Malton and York, as well as working as a supervisor with a sound engineering company. But he was now jobless and homeless.

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