A teenage tearaway has finally been locked up after throwing away “golden opportunities” to avoid custody after courts “bent over backwards” to try to help him.
Regular troublemaker Harrison Hadley seemed “determined” to “destroy” his life and he already had a bad criminal record from when he was a youth, Hull Crown Court heard.
Hadley, 19, of Kinthorpe, Orchard Park estate, north Hull, admitted burglary on May 7 and theft on April 24. He also admitted breaching a 16-month suspended custodial sentence imposed on May 23 last year.
Gabrielle Coates, prosecuting, said that a woman’s son telephoned her asking her where his e-bicycle was. She had left the door locked but the key under a bin outside. Hadley knew the woman and her son and he was with two other youths when he took the key.
Hadley sold the e-bicycle to a shop for £100. It was returned after the woman was contacted about it. The police were alerted and Hadley ran off. He was later arrested but he made no comment to all questions during interview. The woman later said that she was now worried about her son. He had been friends with Hadley.
The theft happened after a man left his bicycle chained to a cage and secured with a padlock at the rear of a pet store at Kingswood retail park while he went to work. He was later told by a colleague that the bicycle had been stolen by two males.
Hadley was seen in a hoodie as he rode the bicycle, valued at £1,700, around. It was never returned.
Billy Torbett, mitigating, said that Hadley had shown a significant level of immaturity. “He knows that this offending is wholly unacceptable,” said Mr Torbett. “He did have the good sense to plead guilty. He has a very troubled record.
“He knows that he needs to buck up his ideas or he is going to serve a life sentence in instalments if he carries on. Many of his previous offences were committed when he was a youth. He now understands that he is in the big court.
“He doesn’t have any formal educational qualifications, having missed a lot of his schooling in his teenage years. He is making some progress while in custody. He has been making progress in his personal life.”
Hadley had previously worked on a scallop vessel in Plymouth and he was keen to return to that. He had a seven-month-old daughter. “He is going to miss important dates on his daughter’s life,” said Mr Torbett. “He has cut all contacts with all the individuals who weren’t good company for him. He has overcome his addiction to cannabis, something he did really struggle with. He is remorseful.”
Judge John Thackray KC told Hadley: “The courts have bent over backwards to try to rehabilitate you and given you golden opportunities and you just keep committing serious offences. Some people never recover from having their house burgled. It’s an invasion of their safe space and they find it very upsetting.
“I’m not satisfied that your risk can be managed in the community or that you can be rehabilitated in the community. You have been given golden opportunities but you seem determined to destroy your life and affect those of others. Only appropriate punishment can be achieved by way of an immediate custodial sentence.”
Hadley, who was in custody on remand, was sent to a young offenders’ institution for two years.