A Lynn man has been sent to prison after breaching a suspended sentence with a series of driving offences.
Darren Curson, 30, of Highgate, appeared at the town’s magistrates’ court on Thursday. On June 1, he had pleaded guilty to driving while disqualified, driving without third party insurance, and driving a motorbike after taking it from its owner without consent.
His case had been adjourned for an impact of custody report to be prepared.
Yesterday, magistrates were told that Curson had taken a Triumph motorcycle from a Lynn car park in mid-January without permission after coming into possession of both sets of its keys.
Police were then called on January 13 after it was spotted in a Highgate car park, being confirmed as the same one stolen by Curson.
CCTV footage from five days earlier showed him driving it in, parking up and inspecting its steering column. He returned on January 13, checking the same part of the motorbike before experiencing difficulties in driving it away.
After police reviewed the footage, attempts were made to find him – and a jacket matching the one worn by him in the video was found in his home kitchen.
He was not arrested due to not being present at the time, although he handed himself into Lynn’s police station on January 23.
It transpired that damage worth £4,150.54 had been done to a plastic panel and the steering column on the motorbike.
Curson had also been driving it while disqualified and without any insurance, meaning he had breached a suspended sentence he was handed in October last year for similar offences.
Magistrates felt they had been left without “many options”, and activated that sentence – meaning Curson will spend eight weeks in custody. This would have been 12, but his early guilty pleas saw the timeframe reduced.
He was also handed eight-week sentences for driving while disqualified and driving the motorbike without permission, but these will run concurrently.
Curson also had his licence endorsed for driving with no insurance, and was ordered to pay a £154 victim surcharge.
He was disqualified from driving for a further 24 months, and will be subject to post-sentence supervision after six weeks in custody.
In mitigation, solicitor George Sorrell had said Curson’s behaviour started to deteriorate at the age of 27 after he “got into bad company” and “mixed with the wrong people”.
He added that the defendant also became addicted to cocaine and cannabis, and that he “just wasn’t thinking straight at the time” of his latest offences.
“It is the story of so many people that come before this court, that they don’t think about the consequences of their actions,” Mr Sorrell said.
“Their actions become habits, and that brings them into court – and if they aren’t careful, that can become part of their life, part of their character.”
The solicitor also asked magistrates to find “some hope” in the improvements Curson had made in the months leading up to his sentencing, but admitted he had come to court “with his bags packed” in anticipation of being sent to custody.
Probation officer John O’Grady added that Curson’s compliance with requirements under his suspended sentence had been “poor”, and that he missed nine appointments without an acceptable excuse.
