A career burglar narrowly avoided being sent back to prison today after he wrote a judge a heartfelt letter pleading with him for a second chance.
Jody Keating, 47, has 49 convictions for 211 offences on his record, most of them for burglaries and theft.
He was back in court this morning (Monday 28 February) to be sentenced for a string of burglaries in Brighton and Eastbourne – and then trying to sell a tattoo gun he stole on Gumtree.
Judge Martin Huseyin said these offences, combined with his record, would usually send him straight to jail for more than two years.
But after reading his letter, and a probation report which said he had worked hard to address his drug addiction while in prison on remand, he had been persuaded Keating was ready to address the drug addiction behind his offending.
Sentencing, Judge Huseyin said: “You have been engaging extremely well, even in difficult circumstances when you been in 22 or 23-hour a day lockdowns you have done everything on the in cell packs and programme that can possibly be done.
“Judges often get letters from people saying I want to try again, I want drug rehab but they’re rarely as detailed as yours and rarely show quite as much insight.
“The penny is finally dropping. I think there’s a momentum that you have at the moment where the prospects of getting you rehabilitated are higher now than they have been for a long time because you are much more motivated with your life and what you want to do about it.
“I’m prepared to take a chance that this is not just just you trying to say the right things for the judge.”
He also heard that Keating had been given a chance to caretake a friend’s flat in Hove, where he would be away from other addicts who might lead him back into bad habits.
He was given three two-year sentences for each of the Eastbourne burglaries and two months each for the Brighton burglary and fraud by false representation, all to run concurrently and suspended for two years.
He was ordered to do 30 days rehabiltation activity, and nine months drug rehabilitation under the direction of his supervising probation officer.
A six-week curfew between 9pm and 7am and a six month tag were also imposed.
At Lewes Crown Court, Judge Huseyin told Keating “The only person who can make this work is you.”
Keating thanked him, replying: “You have just given me the ability to take this opportunity.”
The first burglary happened on Wednesday 27 January last year. Police received reports of a Superdrug store in Terminus Road, Eastbourne, having been broken into and fragrances including aftershaves and perfumes stolen.
Keating was identified from a footprint he left at the scene.
A few days later, on Sunday 31 January, owners of the Tattoo Lounge and the Works, both in Station Street, Eastbourne, reported their stores having been broken into overnight, with electrical goods including a tattoo gun having been taken.
The owner of the Tattoo Lounge later saw the gun being advertised for sale on Gumtree. He got in touch with the seller and arranged to meet him. Keating then turned up to sell the gun.
Finally, Keating was caught on CCTV kicking in the door at Xoxo Café in Prince Albert Street, in Brighton, on Monday 1 November. He stole £50 worth of whiskey.
“The penny is finally dropping. I think there’s a momentum that you have at the moment where the prospects of getting you rehabilitated are higher now than they have been for a long time because you are much more motivated with your life and what you want to do about it.“
I can’t believe I am reading such utter nonsense. 49 convictions for 211 offences and a judge naively gets taken in by a “heartfelt” letter.
he paid someone on Fiverr £50 to write that for him! Judge has been a mug.