'Send me back to prison,' Shropshire shoplifter begs court
A shoplifter who was jailed after saying he would rather go to prison than live in Church Stretton has been banged up again – just a fortnight after his release.
Lee Andrew Price, 30, pleaded with Telford magistrates to take him into custody after admitting two shoplifting offences on Monday.
The heroin addict had just finished a 12-week sentence for stealing from Waitrose on Pride Hill in Shrewsbury – of which he served only six weeks.
When he appeared at the same court for that offence on March 17, magistrates heard he had been so desperate to escape living "in the middle of nowhere" he had called police himself to report his own crimes.
And at Monday's hearing his solicitor, Miss Claire Stevens, told the bench: "He's asked me this morning to go to custody because he wants to wipe the slate clean."
Price was granted another three months inside after he admitted stealing six bottles of spirits from the Co-operative in Church Stretton and food from Aldi in Shrewsbury.
Further shoplifting offences which took place in March before his prison term over the Waitrose offence were also taken into account.
The last time Price appeared at Telford Magistrates Court, his solicitor Mr Dean Easthope described his client's situation as a "sad case" that had emerged from the fact he felt he "couldn't cope in the community any more".
"He is a Shrewsbury lad. All his friends and family live in Shrewsbury. Everything he knows is in Shrewsbury," Mr Easthope had told the court at the time.
"When he came out of prison he was housed in Stonham, Abbey Foregate, then he obtained privately rented accommodation. But when his landlady found out about his previous convictions, she changed the locks and he was immediately homeless.
"The closest he could be housed at such short notice was in Church Stretton. He was put into the middle of nowhere. He tells me he lives in the hills in a totally alien environment."
Mr Easthope said Price had been addicted to drugs for most of his life, adding: "Life had become intolerable for him."
"He rang the police and said he wanted to be locked up," he said. "
He can only see a prison cell as being his respite for the next couple of weeks."
Sara Beddow, prosecuting, said Price had told police about the Waitrose thefts, saying "I need to go back to prison".
