A Bath man with 40 previous convictions who stole two Barnardo’s charity pots from a supermarket has received a suspended prison sentence.
Bath magistrates heard that Nathan Dickson had broken the chain attaching a charity pot to the till at the Co-op in Mount Road in Southdown on 14th September 2024 and stole it and the contents which were approximately £80.
Then on 15th October, Dickson went back and was said to have used cutters to remove another pot containing about £30.
The court was told that Dickson, of Priddy Close in Twerton, had 40 convictions for 75 offences, including 29 thefts.
Appearing for sentencing on Wednesday, 11th June for the charity pot thefts, the 44-year-old told the magistrates he’d had “more than a bumpy year” including health problems, had suffered a breakdown and relapsed with drugs.
He queried how anyone could know the amount that was in the charity boxes.
A conditional discharge had been recommended in a pre-sentencing report.
But the chair of the bench Anthony Davies said that as Dickson was not prepared to cooperate with the Probation Service, had committed “offence after offence after offence” and the charity thefts aggravated the situation, they felt they were left “very little choice” but to impose a six-week custodial sentence “with immediate effect”.
At this point, Dickson, who had no legal representation, became extremely distressed in the dock and the magistrates were asked to retire for a time and received legal guidance.
When they returned, Mr Davies told Dickson: “Do not panic, I did not finish my pronouncement.”
He said the jail sentence would be suspended for 12 months.
Dickson was ordered to pay court costs of £85 and a surcharge of £154 but not the £110 compensation to charity that had been requested by the Crown Prosecution Service as the magistrates did not think that would be appropriate.
Dickson apologised to the magistrates for his behaviour.
