Telford drug addict stole moped to avoid long walk home
A man with a £100 a day cocaine habit took a moped to avoid a long walk home after visiting friends, a court heard.
Tyrone Anthony Murray was seen by officers looking "nervous and furtive" as he pushed the bike down the road in Lawley, Telford, and then tried to escape up a side street.
But Telford Magistrates Court heard he was caught and arrested – and checks found the bike had been taken from outside a house less than 200 feet away from where he was caught.
Murray, 23, of Winifreds Drive in Donnington, Telford, admitted taking a vehicle without consent when he appeared at court.
Mr Shakeel Ahmed, for Murray, said: "He had gone to the Lawley area to see some friends and left in the early hours of the morning with no means to book a taxi."
Murray told probation officers he spent up to £700 a week on cocaine despite being unemployed.
Magistrates sentenced him to a 12-month community order to include drug rehabilitation programmes.
He was also ordered to pay £200 compensation to Codie Turner, fined £50 and also told to pay nearly £200 in court costs.
Mr Arnold England, chairman of the bench, told Murray: "A £100 a day habit is appalling – if you continue on like this you are going to end up in jail."
