Heroin addict jailed for Bournemouth and Poole crimes spate

Jason Christopher Evans, 29, committed the spate of crimes across five-and-a-half months in Bournemouth and Poole.

Evans, who pleaded guilty to all the offences bar four thefts which he was convicted of in absence, was involved in stealing more than £7,000 worth of goods.

The defendant’s barrister Robert Griffiths told Bournemouth Crown Court on October 17 many people could see the offender as a “dreadful” person who is “worthless” but he said there was more to him than that.

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Judge Robert Pawson, who jailed the defendant for three years, said: “It is abundantly clear that you are not worthless. You are obviously an intelligent man.”

Prosecuting, Francisca Da Costa outlined details of Evans’s crimes, many of which were shoplifting offences.

The most serious matters were a burglary committed in Manor Road, Bournemouth, on November 17 last year and assaults on two police officers in Carnarvon Road, Boscombe.

Ms Da Costa said Evans and another individual forced entry at Dunholme Manor and stole five bicycles, worth more than £5,000.

The assaults took place when two police constables were pursuing the defendant on foot. He was garden hooping before eventually being tracked down.

Evans punched one officer in the face, causing a laceration to the top of the nose, and he swung an arm with struck the other police constable in the lip.

In one theft he stole a pressure washer belonging to a funeral director.

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Mr Griffiths said the defendant was released from a previous term of imprisonment without any prescription medication to help cope with his addiction.

The court heard Evans was taking between £100 and £150 worth of heroin a day.

He made efforts to get help but with nowhere to live and a lack of required documentation, he failed to gain access to the relevant services, the court heard.

Mr Griffiths said that the death of the defendant’s long-term partner several years ago pushed him over the edge.

The barrister said members of the public might see Evans as a “He came to realise his drug addiction has sent him in and out of prison all the time,” Mr Griffiths said.

Mr Griffiths said the offender is currently spending more than 23 hours a day in his cell at Winchester Prison while remanded in custody but he had made huge strides in tackling his drug problem.

“What he needs is to finish the sentence of imprisonment and get things set up for when he comes out,” Mr Griffiths.

The judge said when the defendant started taking drugs many years ago it became a downward spiral.

Referencing the conditions and experiences currently facing prison inmates, Judge Pawson said: “Anyone who knows of the situation in prisons would hope that there would be greater investment for prisons and probation.”