- 26-month sentence for man who took hammer into shelter
- Serial offender jailed after carrying out break-in with a gang of four men
- The 28-year-old was hunting for a man who he believed had duped him in a drugs deal
A SERIAL offender has been jailed for more than two years after he broke into a St Helier shelter late at night with a gang of four men.
Luke Clint Cox (28) forced his way into the Shelter Trust in Midvale Road armed with a long-reach hammer as he hunted for a man who he believed had duped him in a drugs deal.
The Royal Court heard yesterday that Cox’s actions left many of the shelter’s residents feeling ‘vulnerable and insecure’.
Cox, who pleaded guilty to one count of breaking and entry and two counts of malicious damage, was leading a group of four co-accused – Zac Gee Hannaford (20), Adam Hawkins (19), Saeed Hussain Malik Qari (19) and Rui Dinarte Calaca Viveiros (19).
Crown Advocate Julian Gollop said that just after midnight on 15 February, Cox – who has 23 previous convictions for 136 offences, including 22 for breaking and entry – forced his way into the lobby of the shelter where the brother of the man who sold him the drugs was staying.
Cox had thought he was buying £90 of the high-strength anti-anxiety drug Valium, but later believed he had been sold something else.
He and Qari then rooted through mailboxes at the shelter as they tried to find the brother before the pair returned later with the rest of the defendants.
This time Cox set about destroying a CCTV camera with the hammer and forcing open mailboxes.
The group then left the shelter before Cox, ‘in a fit of anger’, smashed a nearby moped with the hammer, causing up to £250 worth of damage.
Advocate Sarah Dale, defending Cox, acknowledged her client’s poor record but said that he was making an effort to turn his life around.
She added that he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, severe anxiety and adult detachment disorder – hence his dependence on Valium – as a result of an undisclosed trauma which had happened earlier in his life.
She said: ‘For the majority of his life he has kept this locked inside him.
‘He felt he would suffer looks of revulsion from anyone he told, but now knows this is not true and he can now talk about what happened.’
Advocate Dale added:’This offence was different from his previous offences because they were calculated, and he had done it for personal gain.’
Delivering the court’s sentence to Cox, who was serving a probation order, community and suspended sentence for previous offences, Commissioner Sir Michael Birt said that the Crown’s recommendation of 18 months in jail was too low in the light of his previous record.
He added: ‘The court takes a very serious view of breaking and entry, particularly when it is at night.’
Cox was sentenced to 26 months in prison.
His co-accused, who all pleaded guilty to breaking and entry and malicious damage, were ordered to serve 90 hours community service.
‘Hannaford was also handed a probation order for nine months.
The Commissioner was sitting with Jurats Michael Liston and Jerry Ramsden.
