A FLINTSHIRE man in the grips of a drug addiction has been jailed for small-scale thefts to fund his lifestyle.

Tomas Michael Evan Hughes, of Riverside Park in Garden City, appeared at Mold Crown Court on August 4 having admitted theft from a motor vehicle as well as fraud by false representation and burglary.

Ms Ember-Jade Wong, prosecuting, said the 40-year-old was in the Queensferry area of Flintshire on the night of November 27.

At 4.45am, Jasmine Hyndman was asleep at her home on Dee Road when ‘loud banging’ outside woke her up.

Looking out from her bedroom window, she caught a glimpse of Hughes leaving her garden.

Upon further investigation, she found her shed had been left wide open, noticing a fishing rod had been taken. She immediately called the police.

Officers came and conducted a search of the area where Hughes was found in an alleyway behind the house.

Hughes claimed he was ‘just out walking’.

The court was told the only thing on his person, having been searched by police, was a bottle of milk.

A second officer sweeping the nearby area did eventually come across the missing fishing rod.

Hughes claimed the rod was his and he'd had the piece of fishing equipment ‘for ages’. He was then arrested.

Later offences before the court happened in 2021.

A lady in the Queensferry area, Laura Keenan, had left her purse and husbands bank card in her vehicle on February 25.

The court heard she unloaded the vehicle of her shopping and children – but had forgotten to bring in the purse and bank card that were left in plain view.

The following morning, she went out to look for the purse and realised the door had been left unlocked also. The purse and bank card had vanished from the vehicle.

Her partner checked the bank card for any activity and found a charge for a Co-Op store that he had no knowledge of.

Officers from North Wales attended the Co-Op store and were able to trace the use back to Hughes, who bought an £8 scratch card, using CCTV cameras.

Police then went to Hughes’ address, Ms Wong told the judge. Here he was arrested and a search was carried out.

Officers found clothing that matched the CCTV camera and also the purse taken from the car.

In police interview, Hughes claimed that someone else had broken into his home to leave behind the stolen items – but gave no indication about who or why this would be the case.

His previous convictions were raised – which mainly consisted for thefts, burglary and dishonesty.

The court briefly heard about a burglary of an unoccupied property in Flintshire.

Ms Wong says that Hughes stole a quantity of tools from the house where its owner had recently died. Along with other items.

This resulted in a suspended sentence order that has now been breached with the offences in February.

Defending, Mr Duncan Bould, says that this is a ‘classic case’ of a man in the ‘grips of heroin’ and asked the court to consider that prior to his addiction he had a clean criminal record.

He said Hughes himself ‘wants to change’ and ‘doesn’t like’ what heroin has made him become.

He explained that Hughes has spent time in prison since May already whilst waiting to learn his fate. He added that Hughes believes more time in prison may help him get his life back on track.

The solicitor asked the judge not to make his punishment too long.

Judge David Hale agreed, saying to Hughes that prison may be more helpful than any help he could get in the community when sentencing him to eight months behind bars.

He said: “I cannot ignore the fact that the suspended sentence has been breached so that will be activated in full.

“There has been community order after community order, and it’s got you nowhere. Perhaps it is in your best interest to spend a short period of time with some stability in prison.

“You need a period away from the pressures of life in the community. Take advantage of this period of stability if you can, it won’t be long before you are out.”

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