A drug addict who stole £1,760 in wages from a potato firm has been jailed at Worcester Crown Court.
According to theKidderminster Shuttle, on December 6 2014, the owner of MC Potatoes was working at the site in Crossways Green, Stourport-on-Severn, between 5am and 6am. He left the building and when he returned, he discovered a tin containing £1,760 intended as staff wages had been stolen. Kirk Scott, of Albion House, Kidderminster,was caught on CCTV searching the site and looking for something to steal.
Paul Whitfield, prosecuting, said the 39-year-old was also involved in taking a £22,000 Ford Transit van without consent from a butcher's in Birmingham and making off without paying for £70 worth of fuel at a petrol station. The van was later recovered.
Then, on February 4 of this year, Scott was again caught on CCTV on a Kidderminster industrial estate shortly after 7am waiting for a delivery driver to enter one of the units and leave the keys in his Mercedes van with the engine running. Scott was stopped by police driving the van on the M42 twenty minutes later, Mr Whitfield said.
Whitfield told the court Scott had more than 30 previous convictions for similar offences of dishonesty, mostly related to drug offending, and had been in prison before.
Scott pleaded guilty to burglary, theft, taking a vehicle without authority and making off without paying for fuel. He was still on licence from a previous 30-month sentence when he committed the offences, Whitfield told the court.
John Edwards, defending, said Scott had struggled with drug addiction for a number of years.
'Unfortunately, life's misfortunes have a way of coming back at him and he goes back to taking class A drugs and re-offending,' he said.
Judge Michael Cullum said Scott responded well when in custody but on his release, his 'demons take over' and he gets caught in a downward spiral.
Scott was jailed for a total of 32 months, minus the time he has spent in custody on remand since February.
