‘Unfit’ ex-soldier’s crime spree
0 Comments | Northern Echo, Sep 2, 2010 | by Neil Hunter
Thief scaled church roof for lead – despite ‘disability‘
A FORMER soldier unfit for work because of disability was jailed yesterday after confessing to a crime spree which included climbing onto church roofs to strip lead.
Derrick Foster struck at least four times in east Cleveland last autumn and caused thousands of pounds worth of damage and loss, Teesside Crown Court heard.
The 38-year-old was claiming nearly [pounds]500 a month in sickness benefit and disability living allowance because of a spinal difficulty and the effects of knee surgery.
On November 18, last year – following a spate of lead thefts – Foster was caught on the roof of All Saints Church, in Skelton, at 1am, by a special police patrol team.
He later admitted to stealing from St Joseph’s Church, in Loftus, St Aidan’s Church, in Boosbeck, and Lingdale Primary School in the space of three months.
Michael Bosomworth, mitigating, said Foster was under a lot of strain at the time of the thefts because his mother had been diagnosed with terminal cancer.
He returned to taking heroin to help him cope with the stress, and used the money paid by scrap yards for the lead – split with an accomplice – to pay for his drugs.
The court heard that Foster joined the Armed Forces after finishing school, but left after five years to spend more time with his then-partner and their children.
He later worked at a bacon factory, in Malton, North Yorkshire, and a chicken factory, but a man with whom he shared a car around that time was a heroin user and got Foster involved in it.
Foster was jailed for 20 months after he admitted theft, and asked for two further charges and an attempted theft to be taken into account. He also admitted unlawful wounding.
The court was told he smashed a shovel over the head of his half- brother in the early hours of July 26 when simmering family tensions erupted into violence.
Foster was said to have been in dispute about the cost of their mother’s funeral and some missing jewellery of sentimental value which had been promised to him.
Mr Bosomworth said the defendant’s half-brother assaulted Foster on Boxing Day, but he did not press charges because their dying mother had seen it.
Judge Peter Bowers told Foster, of Oxford Street, Boosbeck: “Stealing lead from churches and schools is always a serious matter.
“They are soft targets and it causes huge inconvenience, let alone cost, to those who can probably least afford it.”