London, Apr. 12 (ANI): A UK shoplifter was sentenced to 18 months in jail for his 342nd offence, after a judge told him that he had a “dreadful record.”
Mold Crown Court heard that David Archer, formerly of Mostyn, Flintshire, had 261 other convictions in his name for shoplifting, other thefts and burglary, the BBC reported.
Archer also had 11 convictions over an Asbo (Anti-social behaviour order) which bans him from charity shops and bars him from possessing a charity box.
North Wales Police had backed the sentence and said that intervention had failed to work.
Archer, who admitted two fresh shoplifting offences and two breaches of an Asbo designed to keep him out of charity shops, told the court that he had only stolen because he wanted to keep himself warm during the cold weather.
Archer, who started stealing at the age of 10, had written a letter to the judge saying that he had in the past donated to charities as he appreciated the work that they did.
Judge Rowlands said that he shuddered to think what the offences had cost his victims and how much the state had spent dealing with him over the years.
Rowlands told Archer that he has a dreadful record and a history of targeting charities, adding, that this was one of the most depressing criminal records that she has seen in a while. (ANI)