Leicester man who stole policeman's bike jailed for 18 months

A man who stole a bicycle belonging to a policeman has been jailed for 18 months.

Joshua Mills, was caught by CCTV cameras removing the lock of the bicycle, worth £100, which had been left secured outside a branch of Primark.

It was later recovered, reports the Leicester Mercury.

Pleading guilty at Leicester Crown Court, he asked for four other incidences of stealing bikes to be taken into account, as well as the theft of £20 from his grandmother’s purse.

Sentencing him at Leicester Crown Court, Judge Nicholas Dean QC noted that the thefts put Mills in breach of a 12-month suspended jail sentence handed down to him last year for burgling his mother’s house.

“I told you when I sentenced you in August that I was giving you a chance and I also told you what would happen if you didn’t take that opportunity,” the judge said.

“You haven’t and now you’re going to pay the consequences of that. It’s clear that after I’d sentenced you, your behaviour didn’t change at all.

“I also have to take into account a mean theft of £20 from your grandmother.”

“Dabbling in the drug M-Cat has got him into trouble,” he said.

“He was kicked out of his home. He was leading a chaotic life-style with no address which also meant he had no access to any income or benefits.

“He knows he must serve a sentence and establish a fresh start on his release,” he added.

Mills was given a six-month suspended sentence for the offences he was standing trial on, which will run consecutively with the earlier 12 month suspended sentence, which has now been activated.