7:00pm Friday 12th March 2010
By Fiona Pendlebury
A PROLIFIC car thief, previously dubbed ‘Dorset’s dumbest thief’ by detectives after repeatedly breaking into a police trap car, begged a judge to keep him in jail.
Graham Hill, 29, of Green Road, Bournemouth, asked Bournemouth Crown Court to hand him a sentence that would allow him to complete a prison course designed to stop him re-offending.
The court heard that Hill has already spent considerable time on remand which would be taken into account for any sentence passed.
Judge Samuel Wiggs described Hill’s request as “extremely laudable” but jailed him for 30 months adding that to jail him for any longer “wouldn’t be just and not a proper use of prison facilities”.
Hill pleaded guilty to breaches of his Antisocial Behaviour Order, and his conditional discharge, handling stolen goods and being carried in a conveyance taken without consent.
He admitted to police that he had breached his ASBO by visiting Downes Wine Bar at the Lansdowne which is within the area he is barred from under the terms of the ASBO.
Hill admitted handling stolen goods after three credit cards and two rings stolen from a house in Howard Road, Bournemouth, were found at his home.
CCTV footage showed a male withdrawing cash from a machine wearing items found at Hill’s home the court heard.
Hill also admitted being a passenger in a stolen Rover taken from outside the Yenton Hotel in Gervis Road, Bournemouth, on November 22 and a breach of his ASBO by being in the area.
Hill has 46 convictions and 103 offences on his record the court heard.
His defence Jeffrey Norie-Miller told the court: ““He’s very worried that he might find himself in a situation to be able to have an early release. He wants to avoid placing himself back in the position where drugs, alcohol and offending are a major pattern of his life. He’s clean of drugs and hopes to stay that way.”
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