A hospital patient who tried to steal the purse of a healthcare assistant who was treating him has been jailed following an investigation by Durham Constabulary.
Shaun Quinn was being treated at Darlington Memorial Hospital on Sunday 29th November.
He walked into a staff room and attempted to steal the purse.
The 40-year-old was caught in the act by staff who called the police and hospital security.
Quinn arrested by officers and charged with attempted theft.
He appeared before magistrates in Peterlee on last Tuesday where he pleaded guilty to the charge.
This put Quinn in breach of a suspended sentence order that was in place for a previous offence of possession of a bladed article in a public place.
Magistrates jailed Quinn for 32 weeks.
Detective Sergeant Grace Holohan, from Darlington Priority Crime Team, said:
“Theft and attempted theft is a dreadful crime in any circumstance, but to attempt to steal something belonging to a healthcare assistant who is looking after you in hospital is just despicable.
“Our NHS staff have worked tirelessly throughout this pandemic to care for the most vulnerable in our communities, they should not have to put up with behaviour like this from one of their patients.”
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Carrying a bladed article in public was supposed to attract a minimum sentence of 4 years. This pond life got a suspended sentence, leaving him free to commit yet more crime. Had he been locked up for 4 years, he could not have attempted this theft. How fortunate for the victim that he was caught. However, given that convictions occur for something like 2.5% of reported crime, theoretically he could have committed 40 undetected crimes.
What is not up for discussion is that had he been locked up, he could not possibly have gone thieving and potentially 40 victims would have been spared misery and inconvenience. The job of government is to protect the law abiding. The job of the police is to catch criminals. the job of the judiciary is to sentence criminals so that they cannot commit more crime. In this respect, the law is delinquent.
Rather than letting BLM tear down statues and generally wreck the place, maybe the time has come for the hard pressed, besieged law abiding to rise up against the lawyers until they do their hobs properly.