Doors to last chance saloon slam shut on prolific offender as he appears at Nottingham Crown Court for sentence

The doors of the last chance saloon slammed shut on a prolific offender as a judge told him he’d run out of chances.

It was said at Nottingham Crown Court Christopher Binns, who has made a career out of being a petty thief, had moved to Norfolk to escape the Newark drug scene.

But he soon found himself returning to thieving to fund crack cocaine use, which put him in breach of a suspended prison sentence for a commercial burglary carried out on a mobile phone shop in Kirkgate, Newark, where he and two co-conspirators were caught red-handed.

Binns, 39, formerly of Ollerton and Newark, pleaded guilty to two counts of stealing washing detergent amounting to £170 from stores when he appeared at Norwich Magistrates’ Court and was remanded into custody.

In the first offence, Binns was seen by shop staff who shouted at him, but he carried on walking away. The second theft was spotted when a staff member noticed a gap in the detergent display. Binns was identified by CCTV.

Miss Lucia Harrington, prosecuting, said Binns had 18 convictions for 66 offences, with the majority for theft and dishonesty, all since the year 2,000, but this included a 13-year gap where he had taken time away to marry and father five children.

Miss Harrington, who described Binns as prolific, said he started his criminality over again in 2019 after separating from his partner and becoming homeless, and had racked up 32 offences since.

She said that as part of Binns’ suspended sentence order he had been required to engage fully with the Probation Service. However, neither his days of rehabilitation, or the Thinking Skills programme had even been started.

Miss Quiana Fitzpatrick, defending, suggested the reasons for that were Binns had been living with a friend who was evicted, therefore had no access to the mail that was being there, and that a sim card he borrowed for a mobile phone had been cut off.

She said that before those things had happened, he had been compliant.

Miss Fitzpatrick said Binns had moved to Norwich to get away from drug use and had been offered lodgings should he be released from custody, which was something she urged Judge Nirmal Shant KC for on her client’s behalf.

She admitted Binns was in the last chance saloon and asked for one further chance, but Judge Shant failed to agree.

“You have been every opportunity to show that you could work with the Probation Service,” the judge said.

“Your record shows years of prolific offending. You have been given every opportunity of your liberty to try and prove yourself and you went on to re-offend.”

Judge Shant sentenced him to a year in jail, which included ten months for the commercial burglary that had originally been suspended.

And, with that, the doors of the last chance saloon, became the sound of a cell door clanging shut at HMP Norwich where Binns had appeared from via video link.