Mablethorpe man stole vacuum cleaner

Steven Paul Cullip, 42, of Mablethorpe Chalet Park, admitted stealing the Dyson cleaner, valued at £249, from the Mablethorpe branch of the Co-op on August 21, when he appeared before Boston Magistrates’ Court.

Jim Clare, prosecuting, said Cullip went into the store and stole the vacuum cleaner but was spotted later on cctv.

“He then made the mistake of going back in the next day and was recognised and detained,” said Mr Clare.

He said Cullip had a ‘lengthy record’ and had recently been released from a four and a half year prison sentence.

Mitigating, David Eager said Cullip had been a ‘heroin addict for many years’.

He said he was on a methadone prescription but following a road accident, he had missed an appointment and was taken off the prescription and it was then that he had stolen the cleaner, adding that most of his offending was to obtain money for heroin.

Mr Eager said Cullip was now back on his prescription.

“He is clean now but with his history, the more support he gets the better,” he told the magistrates.

Barbara Newman for the Probation Service said Cullip had an extensive history of custodial sentences and he felt that he was institutionalised and felt ‘safer’ in prison.

She said he was already getting help from Addaction and his GP.

The magistrates told him they knew he was trying and they did not want to set him up to fail, but he must pay the compensation of £249.

They also ordered him to pay £85 in court costs.