The serial criminal, with more than 100 previous convictions, has been told he could end up facing a ‘surprisingly long’ sentence
Christopher Chester, pictured outside Hull Crown Court(Image: Hull Live)
A drug user with a huge list of more than 100 previous offences has been warned that it “won’t be looking good” for him if he ignores a chance to avoid a “surprisingly long” prison sentence. Serial criminal Christopher Chester had already clocked up “many experiences of prison” but they seemed to have had “no impact at all on his behaviour” after he left custody, Hull Crown Court heard.
Chester, 33, of Willerby, admitted handling a stolen mobile phone between August 18 and November 18 last year. He originally denied the offence but he later changed his plea.
Cathy Kioko-Gilligan, prosecuting, said that, on October 15, police went to the home that Chester shared with his parents to investigate unrelated matters. The property was searched and two mobile phones were found in a bedside cabinet in Chester’s bedroom.
One of them contained the emergency contact details of another man and police later spoke to that person. He confirmed that he had parked his car in the Anlaby Common area in August last year but he did not secure it.
The next morning, he went to his car when he was about to go to work at 6.15am and discovered that his possessions, including his iPhone, had been stolen. He remembered earlier seeing youths laughing at one another near his car.
Chester was arrested on November 17. He claimed that he thought that the phone belonged to his brother, who had used the bedroom before him, or that other visitors could have left it.
“He accepts by his guilty plea that he knew that the phone may be stolen,” said Miss Kioko-Gilligan. “We don’t say that the defendant stole the mobile telephone.”
Chester had convictions for 102 previous offences, 55 of them theft-related, starting in August 2010. He was in breach of a community order that was in force at the time of the latest offence.
Oliver Shipley, mitigating, said that Chester’s drug misuse had been a major problem but his risk could be managed in the community. “There is a very good opportunity here to divert, certainly from custody, but also from drugs,” said Mr Shipley.
Chester realised that he faced a possible prison sentence if he threw away any chance that he was given. “He knows the consequences,” said Mr Shipley. “He has been here before.”
Deputy circuit judge Timothy Clayson said: “He has had many experiences of prison, which has had no impact at all on his behaviour, but this is a single offence, rather than a catalogue.” Chester was warned: “You know as well as I do that it was all about drugs.
“There will come a time, if you carry on like this again, that the only available sentence will be prison. Against the background of your record, you might find it a surprisingly long sentence.
“It won’t be looking good, will it?” There was a choice for Chester between either keeping off drugs or facing being jailed.
Chester was given six months’ drug rehabilitation and 10 days’ rehabilitation.