'˜Prolific' criminal barred from town centre shops

Daniel John Millar of Red Lion Street, Boston, admitted five offences of shoplifting when he appeared at Boston Magistrates Court, on top of what was said to be 53 similar offences in the past three years alone.

Applying for a Criminal Behaviour Order which would ban Millar from all retail premises in a defined area in the town centre, Jim Clare, prosecuting, said the offences related to shoplifting of fragrances from TX Maxx, detergent from B & M and meat from the Co-op on various dates in February and March.

Elizabeth Harte, for Millar, said he accepted there were grounds for the order and that ‘his record of shop theft over the past three years had been bad’, but argued the order be for just a year.

“Surely if he keeps out of trouble for a year, he’s cracked it,” she said. “More than that would be disproportionate.”

She said he had been released from prison in February without a discharge grant and his benefits had taken six weeks to come through, so he had no money and was ‘almost obliged’ to revert to his offending.

“It’s an almost insurmountable hurdle,” she told the magistrates.

The magistrates imposed the ban for two years, warning Millar he could be sent to prison if he breaks the order, and also ordered him to undergo 15 days of rehabilitation and pay £231 in compensation to the stores affected.