11:13 am, June 4, 2024
A recovering heroin addict who used his role as a delivery driver to steal a BMW from a car dealership has avoided being sent to jail.
Karl Jackson swiped the vehicle, valued at £17,000, from the unnamed dealership in Wakefield in September 2021.
The 49-year-old was working for a vehicle logistics company at the time and had been tasked with dropping a different car at the West Yorkshire dealership.
While there, he stole the keys to a BMW that was on display and CCTV cameras filmed him driving away in the car.
When his employer questioned him about the missing vehicle, Jackson denied any knowledge about it and he later gave a no-comment interview to police, the Yorkshire Evening Post reports.
However, he was charged with stealing the vehicle and admitted the offence at magistrates’ court.
Jackson, of Waterdale in Doncaster, appeared at Leeds Crown Court on May 30 for sentencing, where it was revealed that he had a long track record of criminal behaviour, having previously been charged with 114 offences.
In mitigation, his lawyer, Jessica Butterell, said his actions were down to a long battle with heroin addiction.
She told the court that since the incident, Jackson had reduced his drug use from ‘numerous bags a day’ to ‘one every four days’.
She added that the improvement had been aided by a drug rehabilitation order that had seen his offending ‘decrease in frequency and seriousness’.
After hearing all the evidence, Judge Alexander Menary issued Jackson with a 10-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months.
He was quoted as saying: ‘It is apparent that you are someone who’s struggled with addiction.
‘Your drug use is ongoing but it appears you are turning a corner. I hope you can stay on that path and stay off the drugs and out of trouble.’
