Serial offender sent back to prison after threats and theft

A man with a “significant record” who appeared from custody at Lerwick Sheriff Court today has been sent back to prison after having been released early from a previous sentence.

Adam Nelson, 23, of Leaside, Firth, pleaded guilty to shouting, banging on a door in Lerwick’s Pitt Lane on 15th June, making threats and challenging a person to fight and to stealing a watch worth £26.85, which has never been recovered, from the card shop in the Toll Clock shopping centre on 19th June.

He pleaded not guilty to behaving in a disorderly manner and refusing to leave the Thule Bar on 11th June and to stealing a cashbox at Cope Pet Store on 15th June, and these pleas were accepted.

Procurator fiscal Duncan MacKenzie said when Nelson was at liberty he was a “nuisance, and he will steal”.

Defence solicitor said Nelson’s life had been blighted by drug addiction. He was now on a reducing methadone prescription and had been accepted back onto the Moving On project. He was also anxious not to lose his tenancy.

Sheriff Philip Mann said Nelson, who had been in custody since 22nd June, had been released early from prison, where he had been serving a sentence for serious assault, as a “privilege”. It was now appropriate that he was returned there. He was sentenced to three months for the Pitt Lane offence, two months for the theft and told to serve two months from his previous term, to run consecutively.

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A man recently released from prison has been sent back there after committing further crimes.

Adam Chapman, 24, of Leaside, Firth, appeared from custody at Lerwick Sheriff Court today to plead guilty to attempting to steal a cashbox from the Dragon House takeaway in Lerwick on 10th June. He also pleaded guilty to an offence at an address in Clickimin Road on 21st June when he banged on doors and windows and threw plant pots around.

Procurator fiscal Duncan MacKenzie said there was a pattern to Chapman’s offending in that when certain people were around him he had a problem with drugs.

Sheriff Philip Mann said Chapman had been released early on the understanding he would behave himself, and yet his attempt to steal the cash box was a similar offence to one committed previously.

The sheriff sentenced Chapman, who has been on remand since 22nd June, to nine weeks imprisonment for attempting to steal the cashbox, three months for the offence in Clickimin Road plus two months from his previous sentence to run consecutively.