Lymington man Stephen Dempsey given suspended prison sentence for string of thefts

A PERSISTENT Lymington thief who targeted a string of premises was handed a suspended prison sentence when he appeared before magistrates.

Allegations levelled at Stephen Dempsey (46), of Lower Buckland Road, included having jointly with one other person entered a building in Eling Lane, Eling, as a trespasser and stolen £890 in cash on 29th December 2019.

Dempsey was also said to have trespassed with intent to steal at Visual Vibes in Pennington and Lymington businesses The Perfumery and the Wok Inn in September and October 2020.

Having previously denied all four of these charges, he changed all pleas to guilty.

The defendant also pleaded guilty to stealing £16.40 of meat from Tesco in Lymington on 22nd January.

Guilty pleas were entered for seven charges of stealing items of an unknown value from shops including Marks & Spencer in Lymington, and the Totton branches of Tesco Express and the Co-op during March and April.

Dempsey also pleaded guilty to using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour at Pennington Pharmacy on 19th January.

Ruling the offences were serious enough for custody, the Southampton Bench handed him a 40-week jail term but suspended it for 12 months, having noted he was now able to deal with his drugs issues.

Dempsey was told to undergo drug rehabilitation activity during the supervision period of his suspended sentence. He was also ordered to pay £100 compensation for the Eling Lane theft.