AG v Keeble and Stearn [2020] JRC 172 (21 August 2020)

On 18^th February, 2020, Keeble entered Morrisons Daily in Kensington Place, St Helier, and stole a bottle of whisky (£33.79). A customer witnessed this and informed a staff member who confronted Keeble outside. After initially denying the offence, the bottle was retrieved and Keeble was arrested soon after (Count 1).

Between December 2019 and March 2020 Stearn was staying as a winter let at the Beachcombers' Hotel, as part of an arrangement between Social Security and the hotel manager. Stearn was not permitted to have visitors without prior agreement and he was due to leave at the end of March 2020. On 16^th March, 2020, he went to the hotel with Keeble to shower and clean up as they had been sleeping rough. They entered the bar area, which had been secured the previous night, and 27 bottles of wine and Champagne, valued at £549.50, were stolen. The accepted basis is that they were taken by Keeble and passed to Stearn, and both left the hotel carrying the spoils in pillowcases. The defendants were arrested later that day, both were intoxicated and only some of the bottles of wine were recovered. (Counts 2 and 3)

Details of Mitigation:

Guilty pleas. No other mitigation.

Previous Convictions:

Keeble has 31 offences recorded against him. His three most recent convictions from June 2016 to September 2018 are all for theft. He has been convicted of 17 dishonesty offences (including burglary and theft, obtaining property by deception, theft from a dwelling and fraud). He had not been on the Island long and does not have a local criminal record. At the time of his current offending, a warrant for his arrest had been issued by York Crown Court for failing to surrender on 2^nd February, 2020. He faces sentencing in York for an offence of violence committed in England in April 2019.

Conclusions:

Count 1:	1 month's imprisonment.
Count 2:	15 months' imprisonment, consecutive.

Total: 16 months' imprisonment.

Sentence and Observations of Court:

Conclusions granted.

John Michael Stearn

First Indictment

1 count of:	Receiving stolen property (Count 3).
1 count of:	Malicious damage (Count 4).

Second Indictment

1 count of:

Receiving stolen goods (Count 1).

Age: 32.

Plea: Guilty.

Details of Offence:

Between December 2019 and March 2020 Stearn was staying as a winter let at the Beachcombers' Hotel, as part of an arrangement between Social Security and the hotel manager. Stearn was not permitted to have visitors without prior agreement and he was due to leave at the end of March 2020. On 16^th March, 2020, he went to the hotel with Keeble to shower and clean up as they had been sleeping rough. They entered the bar area, which had been secured the previous night, and 27 bottles of wine and Champagne, valued at £549.50, were stolen. The accepted basis is that they were taken by Keeble and passed to Stearn, and both left the hotel carrying the spoils in pillowcases. The Defendants were arrested later that day, both were intoxicated and only some of the bottles of wine were recovered. (Counts 2 and 3)

On 16^th May, 2020, while in custody, Stearn used his teeth to tear a cell mattress. This was damaged beyond repair at a cost of £107.00 (Count 4).

In the early hours of 15^th October 2019, Stearn was in the company of Daniel Keenan when they entered an apartment block in Kensington Place. Keenan faces a charge of illegal entry of a flat, and is alleged to have stolen a television and DVD player, together with three bottles of wine. After leaving the building, Keenan gave Stearn one of the bottles of wine and they were arrested shortly afterwards drinking the wine in a nearby shelter (Count 1, Second indictment).

Details of Mitigation:

Guilty pleas. No other mitigation.

Previous Convictions:

Stearn has 27 convictions including 4 for theft and kindred offences and 4 offences against property (last convicted in 2004).

Conclusions:

First Indictment

Count 3:	15 months' imprisonment.
Count 4:	1 month's imprisonment, consecutive.

Second Indictment

Count 1:

1 month's imprisonment, concurrent to First Indictment.

Total: 16 months' imprisonment.

Sentence and Observations of Court:

First Indictment

Count 3:	13 months' imprisonment.
Count 4:	1 month's imprisonment, consecutive.

Second Indictment

Count 1:

1 month's imprisonment, concurrent to First Indictment.

Total: 14 months' imprisonment.

M. R. Maletroit Esq., Crown Advocate.

Advocate J-A Dix for the Defendant Keeble.

Advocate S. E. A. Dale for the Defendant Stearn.

JUDGMENT

THE DEPUTY BAILIFF:

1. Robert Ian Keeble, you are 40 years old and have many previous convictions, including for offences of dishonesty. You are currently wanted by York Crown Court to be sentenced for a serious offence of violence. Damien Stearn you are 32 years old, you also have previous convictions although for fewer offences of dishonesty than your co-defendant and such offences of dishonesty were committed when you were a juvenile.

2. We propose to summarise the facts in relation to the offences you committed in the order in which those offences were carried out. The first offence in time was committed on 15^th October, 2019, when you and Mr Stearn dishonestly received a bottle of wine, knowing or suspecting the same to be stolen. The wine was taken in the illegal entry of a home in Jersey and you received it shortly after that offence. You knew it came from somebody's home, you were found drinking it in a shelter, you were interviewed by the police after your arrest and you made no comment to the questions you were asked aside from confirming you had drunk the wine and were living in a tent in some woods. You were then released on police bail and the offence on Count 3 was committed on police bail, which is an aggravating feature of the offence at Count 3.

3. On 18^th February you Mr Keeble, committed an offence of larceny by shoplifting at Count 1 of the Indictment stealing a bottle of whisky from Morrisons Daily in Kensington Place. The bottle was recovered by a staff member after you had walked out of the shop without paying. You were arrested shortly afterwards in St Helier and you admitted the offence in interview.

4. The principal offence against you both relates to the illegal entry by you Mr Keeble, Count 2 on the Indictment, of the Beachcombers Hotel in Grouville, in which you stole 27 bottles of wine including a bottle of Champagne to the value of £549 and 2 pillow cases; and your involvement Mr Stearn, Count 3 of the Indictment, effectively at the scene assisting in the disposal of this criminal property by carrying the wine away in the stolen pillow cases.

5. The Crown did not draw a distinction between you in terms of your culpability for these offences as your receiving of the stolen property, Mr Stearn, was so close in time and circumstance to the illegal entry and larceny committed by Mr Keeble as to make it inappropriate in the Crown's view for the Court to make a meaningful distinction between you in terms of sentence. You Mr Stearn had been living at the Beachcombers hotel for some two months in March of this year. The manager of the hotel had wanted to give you a chance as you were homeless, and you accept through your counsel today that you abused the trust that the hotel had placed in you by bringing Mr Keeble to the premises resulting in these offences taking place.

6. As to the facts of the offences at Counts 2 and 3, on the 16^th March in the small hours when it would have been dark, you both went to the hotel and Mr Keeble you went to the bar area and stole the wine and you both left the hotel carrying the wine in pillow cases taken by Mr Keeble from Mr Stearn's room. You were seen leaving the vicinity of Mr Stearn's room at 6am and found together sleeping rough in Patriotic Street car park at 8:15am. Shortly thereafter you were both arrested, you were both intoxicated at the time and whilst in custody you Mr Stearn used your teeth to tear a single mattress which was damaged beyond repair, the cost of £107, and that represents Count 4 on the Indictment.

7. You were both interviewed and neither of you were particularly cooperative with the police but you both pleaded guilty before this Court on 3^rd July, 2020. Mr Keeble, you have been remanded in custody since your appearance before the Magistrate on 18^th March, 2020 and you Mr Stearn have been in custody since 30^th July owing to your failure to comply with bail conditions.

8. We have read carefully the Social Enquiry Reports in both of your cases and Mr Keeble your adult life has been blighted by drugs and alcohol; you have not worked for six years and during the brief period that you have lived in Jersey prior to committing these offence you were not working and in receipt of United Kingdom state benefits. The Probation Officer says that you are effectively "rootless", not having had your own accommodation or even a local area that you can call your home. You have been the subject of rehabilitation centre assistance on two occasions and you recognise that you have a difficulty with drugs and alcohol. Whilst in custody you have detoxified from alcohol and you have also accessed mental health services; you are currently prescribed anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medication. As we have said, there is a warrant issued by the York Crown Court arising from your failure to attend a sentencing matter for an offence of violence and we understand you will be dealt with that when you are released from custody in Jersey. The risk of your reoffending has been assessed as being high and we hope that when you are released from custody you will be able to face up to the problems you have had with alcohol and drugs.

9. Mr Stearn you have had a challenging childhood and an unsettled education which we have read about. Alcohol has been a real difficulty for you and there have been times in your recent past when you have been consuming up to two litres of vodka a day, according to the report that we have read. You said that you are not addicted to alcohol but certainly you are unable to properly control its use. You said that if available to you, you would not wish to live in accommodation provided by Aztec House or the Shelter Trust, owing to your anxiety and other mental health issues. You prefer to sleep in the woods or elsewhere. We understand from the reports that you are a talented artist and we hope that you can make some use of that in custody. You also have been assessed as having a high risk of reconviction.

10. The Court notes that the guideline starting point for illegal entry and larceny from commercial premises at night is 18 months' imprisonment. Of course sentences may, depending upon the circumstances, result in greater or lesser sentences than this starting point being imposed by the Court. In regard to the circumstance of this case we have taken the view that the principal offences that you have both committed are so serious that only a custodial sentence is warranted. We give you credit for your pleas of guilty and the sentences that we impose are as follows: in relation to your case Mr Keeble we grant the Crown's Conclusions; in relation to Count 1 you will be sentenced to 1 month's imprisonment; Count 2, 15 months' imprisonment to run consecutively making a total of 16 months' imprisonment.

11. In relation to you Mr Stearn we are able to reduce the Crown's Conclusions slightly and this is for two reasons. Firstly you were not the prime mover for the Beachcomber Hotel offences as has been accepted by both counsel, and secondly, although your offending is aggravated by your criminal record it is not to the same degree of your co-defendant. Accordingly in your case the sentence on Count 3 is 13 months' imprisonment, Count 4; 1 month's imprisonment, consecutive and in relation to the Second Indictment 1 month's imprisonment, concurrent making a total of 14 months' imprisonment.

12. In view of the sentence that we have imposed we make no order for compensation or costs.

Authorities

AG v Gaffney [1995] 101

AG v Gaffney [1995] JLR Note 22b

R v Webbe and others [2001] EWCA Crim 1217

Wylie v AG 2002/13

AG v O'Shea [2011] JRC 136A

AG v O'Brien [2015] JRC 098

AG v E [2016] JRC 161

AG v De Faria [2017] JRC 139

AG v Frescata [2018] JRC 202

AG v Moreira [2018] JRC 215

Whelan on Aspects on Sentencing in the Superior Court of Jersey, Third Edition

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