Man burgled Gipsey Bridge Post Office while '˜heavily using drugs'

A man who broke into his village's post office while he was high on drugs, has now been able to turn his life around, his solicitor has told magistrates at Boston.
Court news.Court news.
Court news.

Brandon Harris, 20, now living in Kettering, in Northamptonshire, but who at the time was living with his parents in Gypsy Bridge, admitted the burglary of the Gypsy Bridge Post Office and theft of cigarettes, confectionery and cash.

Marie Stace, prosecuting yesterday (Wednesday), said Harris broke into the post office at 12.59am on April 24 after cycling there, entering through a sliding door into the garage and then breaking open a connecting door to the post office itself.

She said he stole cigarettes and confectionery and £5 cash, doing £2,000 worth of damage in the process, before leaving the same way he had got in.

He was identified from CCTV images filmed inside the post office.

Mitigating, Philippa Chatterton said that at the time Harris had been ‘heavily using drugs’ and ‘had no memory of the offence’, but had now moved from the area and was living with an aunt in Kettering.

She said he had been given a community order since the date of this offence and that he was no longer using drugs, had obtained employment and was said by the Probation Service to be doing ‘extremely well’.

“Life has changed for the better,” she told the magistrates.

However, the magistrates pointed out that the community order was in fact imposed when he was already an order and sentenced Harris to 12 weeks custody, suspended for a year, with 180 hours of unpaid work for the community.

He was also ordered to pay £304 in compensation and £200 in costs and charges.