Wheelchair-using South Tyneside shoplifter given 150 years to pay off colossal court debt
Wheelchair-using shoplifter will, theoretically, be 192 by the time he pays off his colossal court debts.
A wheelchair-using South Tyneside shoplifter has been given a staggering 150 years to pay off a massive £36,000 debt to a court.
David Gibson’s two lifetimes’ let-off means he will be aged 192 before he has paid the sky-high monetary tally.
Just £20 per month
Gibson, 42, of Chaucer Avenue, Biddick Hall, is being allowed to trim it by just £20 a month under rules which apply to benefits claimants.
He has racked up the colossal figure largely from fines and costs imposed during previous offending, described to magistrates as being “prolific” a year ago.
The figure was revealed by the clerk of the court at his latest court hearing in South Tyneside, where he pleaded guilty to a theft charge.
Gibson confessed to pinching £80 of food and drink from an Aldi branch in Newcastle on Thursday, April 9.
The stock was recovered, meaning magistrates did not have to order compensation be paid to the retailer.
But they did let him off with the usual £85 court costs, citing his monumental debt amount.
They initially also remediated a £26 victim surcharge, a punishment inflicted at various amounts on all court-goers.
However, they put it in place when corrected by the clerk, who reminded them it was mandatory and had to be imposed.
Magistrates also heard Gibson has another seven fines’ accounts with the court, meaning his debt is in fact greater.
‘He’s a vulnerable person’
Of his theft, prosecutor Paul Anderson said: “He is one of three people who go into Aldi. He was apprehended.
“He had taken £80 of items such as sweets, meat and other foodstuffs. He told police he would have taken the items had he got outside.
“You’ll see from his record that he’s subject to a number of conditional discharges and there’s a community order.
“The goods were recovered and so there’s no application for compensation.”
Ben Hurst, defending, said: “There’s one community order in place and two conditional discharges.
“I appreciate that other people were with him at the Aldi. He’s a very vulnerable person and people take advantage.
“It was a low-level theft and the goods were recovered. There’s been a break with offending since last year when he was prolific.”
As well as the £26 victim surcharge, Gibson was also sentenced to a six-month conditional discharge.