Prolific booze thief to spend Xmas inside after being caught nicking while on suspended sentence

A PERFUME and booze thief will spend Christmas in the clink after he was caught stealing alcohol from Tesco while on a suspended sentence.

Tony Steven Cecil, 38, was arrested on Friday after he was caught stealing £61.50 of drink from Tesco in Cheapside, in the City of London. He appeared before Westminster Magistrates' Court today (December 18) when he admitted the offence as well as stealing £45.50 of booze from the same store on December 14.

Cecil. who is living in a Salvation Army homeless hostel for men in Montague Street, Whitechapel, east London, admitted thefts from two London TK Max stores on September 9 and 16 respectfully when he stole perfume totalling nearly £300 over both incidents.

At the same court on September 25 he received a 56 days prison sentence suspended for a year after he admitted stealing goods worth £278 from Boots in William Street, near Monument, a day earlier.

The suspended sentence was activated today.

The court heard Cecil owed £1,730 in unpaid court fines dating back to 2018 and he has an appalling record of similar offences.

He was jailed for a total of eight weeks.

Essex News and Investigations Opinion

In October Sir Tom Winsor, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary, blasted the rehabilitation of offenders, leading to a revolving door of crime.

He said: “If we are to break the cycle of offending we need to have sound rehabilitation. In many cases people commit offences because they have no money, no stable accommodation or food and are often dependent on alcohol or drugs, but in too many respects the promises of rehabilitation are not kept.

“Many people walk out of prison with £46 in their pocket, a bag containing their possessions, nowhere to live, no adequate preparation for life outside and very often they simply go back to the environment and associations and incentives that sent them to prison in the first place.

Although Cecil had somewhere to live in this case, it certainly seems to be an example of one of these cases.