A Canterbury thief and fraudster has been jailed for three years and seven months after stealing while on a suspended sentence.
Joe Scott burgled a property in the city on 19 July 2022, using the stolen bank cards four times to buy cigarettes, alcohol and scratchcards. Following an investigation by the Chief Constable’s Crime Squad, Scott appeared at Canterbury Crown Court on Wednesday 21 September and pleaded guilty to burglary and fraud.
He also admitted a theft, three shoplifting offences, and a further fraud carried out between 26 June and 20 July.
During the evening of Tuesday 19 July, residents of a property in Linden Grove, Canterbury were asleep when Scott entered their home and stole a laptop and a purse containing bank cards.
When the victim woke the following morning, she realised there had been burglary. She found her laptop on the pavement outside but the purse and cards were missing. Around the same time, Scott had been using the bank cards in local stores, making four transactions totalling nearly £400.
During that same morning, Scott also stole from one of the stores twice, walking out with a shopping basket containing multiple packets of steak and other meats, as well as other items, valued at more than £130.
When he was arrested by Kent Police later that day, officers found a message on his phone to someone saying he had got three working bank cards.
The 33-year old was charged with the offences. He was also charged with three additional counts of theft, relating to the shoplifting of 11 razors and two bottles of alcohol worth a total of £265 from a supermarket on 26 June; stealing hanging baskets from a business in Wincheap on 16 July and stealing more meat products totalling £352 from a supermarket on 19 July. He was also charged with another count of fraud after using a bank card reported stolen to buy alcohol and other items from a store on 27 June.
Scott, of Bingley Court, Canterbury, admitted all of the offences at court, but was already subject to a suspended sentence for previous offending, which was activated, resulting in a custodial sentence of three years and seven months.
Investigating officer, Detective Sergeant Jay Robinson of the Chief Constable’s Crime Squad said: ‘Joe Scott has shown little consideration for his victims. Whether it is creeping around a house while the residents sleep, stealing through fraud or taking armfuls of goods from businesses, his actions are invasive and can have a real lasting impact for them. To offend while on suspended sentence also shows no respect for the law and I’m pleased he has been sent to prison.’