Homeless Leeds man who threw tin of corned beef at police car outside St James's Hospital sent to prison
A homeless man who threw a tin of corned beef at a police car in Leeds has been jailed.
Darren Wainwright, 58, was sentenced today (Wednesday) at Leeds Crown Court for three counts of criminal damage and burglary of a non-dwelling, when he smashed his way into a Home Bargains shop to steal food.
The sentencing was being returned to the court after more details were requested on Wainwright’s circumstances at a previous hearing.
The court heard that in the early hours of August 19, officers saw Wainwright outside of the Gledhow Wing of St James’s Hospital.
Having spoke to him earlier in the day, they approach Wainwright, who asked: “Do you know where corned beef island is?”
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After walking away from Wainwright, who was holding a tin of corned beef, they heard a loud bang and turned around to find that he had thrown the tin at the police car, causing damage to the passenger door. He was then arrested as this was “the easiest option”.
During the previous court hearing Wainwright told the court that he “wanted someone to come and help me” and the “only way was to get in trouble”.
He said: “I did it on purpose. I was cold and hungry.
“I could have eaten the corned beef but I would have needed to get another. A tin of corned beef does not last me two minutes.”
After being released without charge, Wainwright then put a car window through on Compton Crescent in Harehills after being heard “shouting and screaming in the street” in the late evening of August 22.
While on bail for the charge, Wainwright was caught on CCTV smashing the window of the Home Bargains store at Cross Gates Shopping Centre on September 1 and crawling inside to gather items of food.
Then, on the evening of September 3, a resident of Beech Crescent in Gipton awoke to hear Wainwright shouting “give me my money” outside of her home while holding what appeared to be a brick. She called police before hearing a loud bang and went downstairs to find her kitchen window had been smashed.
Officers attended and found wainwright “standing on the roadside trying to conceal himself behind a vehicle”.
Mitigating, Stephen Smithson said Wainwright “doesn’t want to be released to homelessness again” and preferred to stay in prison where he had a TV and was “getting fed”.
The court heard that Wainwright has a “terrible record going back 40 years”, with 58 previous convictions for 80 offences, and a “major issue with alcohol and drug abuse”.
Judge Mansell KC sentenced him to six months imprisonment.