Career criminal was high on drugs at wheel of stolen milk float

Martin Wilmot was stopped on Greasbrough Street, at 12.10pm, on May 29, last year, and told police he’d been paid £150 to drive it "from A to B," prosecutor Andrew Smith said.

The £10,000 white Citroen dispatch van was taken from Victoria Road, Barnsley, three hours earlier, when the milkman left the keys in the ignition.

He was in the rear cargo area when someone climbed into the cabin and drove off.

The milkman fell into the street but was uninjured. Around £200 of stock and £2,000 in cash were in the van.

Mr West said Wilmot was sentenced to 51 months for robbery on February 1.

He described Wilmot as a "career criminal" with numerous offences on his record, including burglaries and fraud.

He was jailed for burglary for six years in 2009, for four years in 2014 and for three years in 2017. He was released from his last prison sentence on January 3, last year, Mr West added.

Rebecca Stephens, mitigating, said Wilmot deserved credit for an early guilty plea and asked the judge not to extend his current sentence.

Wilmot, 44, of HMP Doncaster, pleaded guilty to receiving stolen goods, driving while over the prescribed limit for drugs, and driving without a licence or insurance.

Judge David Dixon told him: "You have an awful record for criminal offences."

He sentenced him to a total of seven months, which will be added to his current sentence, and banned him from driving for 31 months.

Read the latest cases from Sheffield Crown Court here.

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