Desperate drunk helped steal beer drained from pipes at Leeds pop-up bar
Alcoholic who downed 12 cans a day jailed for helping to steal beer from the lines of a temporary bar in Leeds city centre.
A desperate and homeless alcoholic was caught as he tried to steal beer from a bar in Leeds after hours.
Adam Senior tried to flee with a container full of beer that had been drained from the pipes of Thor’s on Leeds City Square.
The chronic drinker was jailed this week after he admitted the commercial burglary, along with multiple breaches of a Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO), thefts and possession of cannabis.
Leeds Crown Court was heard that in the early hours of the morning on July 25 last year he was seen to be handed the container full of beer from an unnamed co-defendant who had broken in and was behind the bar.
When police arrived, Senior tried to run but was quickly apprehended.
Beer was also found to be pouring from the damaged lines on the bar.
Prosecutor Thomas Harris said Senior was given a CBO in January of this year ordering to keep out of B&M Bargains, Savers, Lidl and Aldi in the Dewsbury and Batley area.
The order is to last for three years.
But over a week-long period in late March, the 33-year-old entered several of those shops and stole cider, wine, chocolate, cheese and detergent, amounting to hundreds of pounds.
When he was eventually arrested he was found to be carrying a small amount of cannabis.
The court heard that Senior has 28 previous convictions for 70 offences.
He appeared in court over a video link from HMP Leeds, having been recalled on a previous sentence.
Mitigating, Gabrielle Wilks said that Senior did not know the the other male involved in the bar raid but had struck up a conversation of where they could get booze from.
She said it was not “sophisticated” and not wearing gloves or a face covering to disguise himself.
Referring to his overall offending, she said: “He still has time to turn his life around if he applies himself.
“His biggest mitigation is that he pleaded guilty at the first opportunity.
“His motivation for committing the offences are clear, he has a clear problem with alcohol.”
She said he would drink up to 12 cans of cider a day, topped up with bottles of wine.
Ms Wilks said he uses alcohol to block out childhood trauma and anxiety, but was now medicated for his anxiety.
She said he had detoxed in prison and added: “He can think clearly for the first time in years.
“He acknowledges he needs to take greater responsibility for his life.”
The judge, Recorder Richard Paige, jailed Senior for 23 months, telling him that despite his newly-found clarity, the cycle of his offending “had not yet been broken”, so immediate custody was necessary.