February 25, 2021 5.08 pm This story is over 36 months old

Aggressive Hykeham beggar served criminal behaviour order

Causing issues in Lincoln and North Hykeham

A prolific and aggressive beggar who caused issues in Lincoln and North Hykeham has been issued with a criminal behaviour order by Lincolnshire Police.

The man caused issues particularly around The Forum in North Hykeham and the Tritton Road retail parks in Lincoln — but police would not name him.

He failed to engage with support offered to him and became very aggressive with his begging. This included approaching cars that were pulling into car parks and opening their doors to ask for change.

He was also abusive to shop staff who asked him to stop harassing their customers.

The man already had an existing CBO from the Nottinghamshire area for similar behaviour, but that only applied to areas within that county.

On one occasion, he also told Lincolnshire officers he did not care about criminal behaviour orders. A CBO was issued to the man after work between Lincolnshire Police and the city council’s intervention team.

Lincoln Police said: “We are sure he will when our city centre team start arresting him for breaches and he finds himself facing a custodial sentence.

“This is slow painstaking work building up a real picture of the individual’s behaviour for the court but it will ultimately reduce the negative impact he has had on the community.

This comes after police said in September last year that there had been an increase in the number of people begging at The Forum in North Hykeham.

It was highlighted as a place which is “lucrative to beg”.