A shop thief caused trains to be held up for 45 minutes after stealing cans of butane gas and then walking onto the railway line sniffing the contents, Lincoln Crown Court was told.
Dominic Norris took two canisters of the gas from behind the counter of the Poundland store in High Street, Lincoln, and then barged a member of staff out of the way before leaving without paying.
Tom Heath, prosecuting, said that police were called and found Norris near the city’s Brayford level crossing.
Mr Heath said: “The defendant walked onto the train tracks and started sniffing the gas canisters he had just stolen.
“He began to walk down the train track. The police officers decided it was too dangerous to follow him. British Transport Police were contacted and the line had to be shut down for about 45 minutes. Two trains had to be stopped.”
Norris was subsequently arrested and when he was searched he was found to have a home-made weapon of a snooker ball hidden inside a sock.
Norris had previously been arrested earlier the same month for a number of other offences.
On November 17 he was detained after police were called out to reports of a man armed with a knife at the junction of High Street and Foster Street. He was searched and a lock knife was found on him.
Just two days later he was stopped by security staff when he tried to leave the Tesco Express store on High Street without paying for a box of beer. During the incident that followed Norris struck a security guard.
He then made his way to the Iceland store on High Street and tried to leave without paying for two bottles of vodka. He was stopped by a security guard who managed to retrieve one of the bottles. Norris started to drink from the second bottle and then lay on the ground blocking the entrance.
The security officer asked him to move as he was blocking the entrance but Norris responded by pouring the contents of the vodka bottle over both himself and the security officer before trying to set light to himself.
Norris went on to punch the security officer in the groin. Police arrived at the scene and he was arrested.
The court was told that Norris has 148 previous convictions for a total of 280 offences.
Norris, 40, who was homeless at the time, admitted obstructing the railway, possession of an offensive weapon, theft and common assault as a result of the incidents on November 26 at Poundland and on the railway line.
He also admitted two common assaults, theft and attempted theft on November 19 and possession of a bladed article on November 17. He was jailed for a total of 18 months.
Leanne Summers, in mitigation, said that Norris wanted to receive a prison sentence so that he can sort out his life.
“When he isn’t in custody he is homeless and he armed himself to protect himself.
“Reaching the age of 40 has been something of a wake-up call for him. He feels he needs to spend some time in custody in order to positively change his life and circumstances. In the community he is described as vulnerable.
“He is best placed at the moment in custody where he feels he is taking the right steps towards a life where, when he is released, he will hopefully come out drug and crime free. He hopes to leave Lincoln when he is released and make a fresh start.”
Recorder Michael Auty QC told him: “There is no choice for me other than to send you to prison. It is what you ask me to do and I’m driven to do it because there is no alternative.
“In many ways I do it with the heaviest of hearts. Anybody reading the psychiatric report and learning of your background could not fail to have some measure of sympathy towards you for the kind of life you have lived thus far. Some may say it is no life at all. Most people loath prison but you positively thrive there.”
The Lincolnite welcomes your views. All comments are reactively-moderated and must obey the house rules. Please stay on topic and be respectful of other readers.
Coal is the dirtiest of all the green house gases, which is why even the present government has committed to phase out coal power completely by 2024 and driving forward power generation based on renewables with a decarbonised power system by 2035.
The development of wind and solar power means that clean energy is now cheaper than coal generation in most countries, and the cost of new coal based energy plants is well above the cost of new wind and solar farms.
Sustainable non-carbon sources of energy are essential to tackle global warming, and just as essential for hard pressed consumers who are currently paying far more than they need to for their energy use.
District councils in Lincolnshire are already supporting low income households with the Home Energy Upgrade scheme to help them insulate their homes and install low carbon heating for the coming winter.
This is no time for complacency. The rapid acceleration of global warming is evident to everyone just now, andthe time for prevarication is over.
There is no contradiction between tackling global warming and making sure that we can all pay our energy bills.
A Lincoln woman was hospitalised for six months after giving birth whilst having coronavirus, enduring multiple strokes and spending five weeks in a coma. Now, she is fundraising for private treatment to speed up her recovery.
Josie Busby had coronavirus in September last year before testing positive for it again in November. After a dizzy spell, and due to being heavily pregnant, she phoned NHS 111 and an ambulance was sent out.
Josie, now 40, was taken to Lincoln County Hospital where the baby’s heart rate was seen to be high. After waiting to see if her condition improved, doctors decided that for the safety of her and the baby an emergency c-section would be performed.
William, 5, became a big brother to George two days later when Josie’s new baby was born in November 10 last year.
However, Josie suffered multiple strokes and was sent to Glenfield Hospital in Leicester on November 13 for specialist treatment as she was “desperately poorly”, her husband Rob said.
Josie with her sons William, 5, and George who is now around nine months old.
Josie returned to Lincoln County Hospital four days later but her condition continued to deteriorate. She was put into an induced coma for five weeks, where she said she had a lot of tubes inside her. During her time in hospital, her new baby George was looked after at home by her husband Rob and his mum.
Josie came out of the coma in December, but remained in hospital until June 20 this year and she is determined to speed up her recovery by fundraising for private treatment.
Josie is determined to become more mobile again.
She is now having NHS stroke recovery treatment (physio and speech therapy) and also has carers coming to her house at least twice a day to help her with personal care and to get dressed, while family and friends have been helping with batch cooking.
An emotional Josie told The Lincolnite that she is desperate to have the joy of being able to look after her children properly as she has really struggled with not being able to physically do much for them.
She said: “It’s all a blur. I can’t remember much until around February of this year. Although I was awake in December I wasn’t aware of what was going on as I was on a lot of medication.
“I’ve only been home six weeks and my left side is still weak. I can’t hold George in the way that I want to and should, so I am still working on that bond, and I can’t even change his nappy at the moment.
“The physio is coming to the house four to five days a week, helping with my speech, handwriting and physio work. That has been really upsetting for me as I had beautiful handwriting before and now it’s like I’ve never written before, it’s gone completely. I am like a baby learning from the beginning.
Josie (right) with her sister Alice (left).
“I can’t walk across the living room, clean or cook, and when I am in bed I feel like a prisoner as I can’t roll over. My main objective is to be more mobile again so I can do normal activities and look after George and William.
“Because I’m more aware of things now, I am feeling more emotional. I am having counselling to work on that. I think once you’re home in a lot of ways it’s harder as you are more aware of what you can’t do at home, whereas in hospital you get a lot of help with things.
“The support we have had from our parents has been amazing, and above and beyond.”
Josie has felt upset about not being able to look after her baby boy George properly and is trying to raise money to speed up her recovery.
Josie set up a GoFundMe page as the NHS treatment she is having is for a shorter period of time and she said “not being with the kids properly is killing me at the moment”.
She said: “Having children really motivates me to want to get better soon. It is horrible being at home and not being able to look after them, or myself, properly.
“I want to say a massive thank you to everyone who has donated. It really means a lot to us and the boys. I also want to thank the hospital staff who were amazing.”
Josie feeding her baby boy George.
Josie’s husband Rob said: “At the very beginning it was very much a shock. When I saw her for the first time after George was born she was essential vacuum packed with tubes coming out of her. It was really scary.
“There were a lot of uncertain weeks at the beginning and I was being given updates from ICU – at one point she was given a 10% chance of survival. It is definitely good that she is home. The help she is getting is really good, what she is after with the GoFundMe page is to add to that.
“Even in this short space of time she’s been home she’s had marked improvements. There is still a long way to go, but she is determined.
“What we’ve had so far (support from hospital and carers) has been really good. All the support from the maternity and Ashby wards, and ICU, was excellent, and from my perspective they couldn’t do enough for me (when I was on the maternity wing with George).”
Whatsapp
