Simon Hatton, 34, of Old Mill, St Martin’s, admitted thefts from both the Coop in the Market and the one at Royal Terrace, St Peter Port, when he appeared in the Magistrate’s Court.
The offences were committed two months apart. On the first occasion he took meat with an approximate value of £200, and on the second, meat and alcohol to a value that could not be ascertained.
On both occasions the defendant had walked in to the store and filled up a basket before leaving without paying for the items. He was identified via CCTV footage.
On at least one of the occasions he was later seen handing items out to people in the Harbour Lights public house.
He told police in interview that he did not know why he had done it, but had been unemployed and intoxicated at the time.
Defending, Advocate Paul Lockwood said that in his client’s own words he just became a liability to himself when he had been drinking.
Alcohol was an issue for him and the thefts had been carried out on the ‘spur of the moment’.
Judge Gary Perry asked how it could be a spur of the moment thing when it had happened twice.
Advocate Lockwood said the central issue was his client’s poor relationship with alcohol which had not been addressed, and he knew that he needed to stop drinking.
Judge Perry said the defendant had an appalling record with many offences of this type of nature and he was only too happy to take comforts from others.
It seemed that he did it to impress people and saw himself as some type of ‘Robin Hood’ figure handing out meat, possibly to make people like him more.
Hatton was ordered to perform 100 hours of community service as a direct alternative to two months in prison, concurrent, for each offence.
A probation order was also imposed for 12 months with a condition that he must attend appointments with the Criminal Justice Substance Service, and comply with alcohol testing and treatment as required.