Man who stole from Skegness shop was making '˜cry for help'

Jason Northern, 49, now living in Leicester but previously at Primrose Lane, Sutton on Sea, admitted stealing the £100 jacket from Alisons Store in Skegness on July 23.

Boston magistrates heard that he was seen by a member of the staff who followed him to the local KFC cafe and detained him until the police arrived.

He told them that he had ‘done something daft’ and had waited to be arrested, said Jim Clare, prosecuting.

He also said he ‘needed help’ as he was no longer seeing a probation officer.

Mitigating, Philippa Chatterton said Northern had had a gambling addiction and mental health issues and had numerous convictions.

She said that since his last conviction he had been the subject of a serious assault in the Leicester area, hich had included an attempt to cut off his hand, and the offenders had been sentenced to prison sentences last November for kidnap and assault.

She said Northern went to the Skegness area to avoid retribution from members of the offenders’ families

and that he was suffering from post traumatic stress, but because he had left Leicester, he had had no help from local mental health services.

She added that he had committed the offence as a ‘cry for help’ and that as a result he was now going to see a psychiatrist next week.

The magistrates imposed a six months conditional discharge and ordered him to pay £65 in costs and charges.