A drug addict caught with a cat-shaped knuckle duster pleaded with magistrates to be sent to prison today so she could detox.
Susan Goodison, 44, thanked the bench at Brighton Magistrates Court after they reluctantly sentenced her to four weeks.
Before passing sentence, chair of the bench Nigel Peacock warned Goodison the rehab facilities in prison may well not be what she is looking for.
But after hearing she would refuse to engage with probation, magistrates were left with little choice but to send her straight to custody.
Defending Goodison, Linda Filby said: “She wants me to ask you to give her a short custodial setence so she can regain her life as she wishes it to be.
“She wants to go into prison to detox because he has various problems with drugs.
“When she leaves prison, she can then apply for rehabilitation.”
Mr Peacock said: “Intervention in custody is not quite what people think it will be and I’m not sure it will achieve what she thinks it will achieve.”
The court clerk, Neil Ashton told the bench that if they had evidence she would not cooperate with probation, they could pass a custodial sentence.
Crying in the dock, Goodison told Ms Filby: “I just need help – I’m asking them for help.”
After confirmation she was refusing to engage with probation, Mr Peacock said: “It is with a very heavy heart that the bench are going to send you to custody for a period of four weeks, being mindful of the fact you are refusing to cooperate with probation.”
The court previously heard that Goodison, who today gave her address as North Street, had been living at the West Pier Hotel in Regency Square when police were called there in May last year.
Police saw the knuckle duster attached to a lanyard around her neck.
Ms Filby said she had bought it on Amazon and had not realised it was classified as a prohibited weapon. She pleaded guilty to possession of an offensive weapon at the same court on 1 June last year.
A subsequent hearing in November was adjourned so a pre-sentence report could be prepared. No report had been prepared by today’s hearing.
Her hearing was called on twice this morning, but on both occasions she had returned home. The sentence was eventually passed this afternoon.
