South Yorkshire teen jailed for stealing from his father to feed cocaine habit

In the months leading up to the incident, the family of defendant, Adam Brockhurst, had been heavily involved in trying to help him overcome his addiction to cocaine.

Prosecutor, Stephanie Hollis, told Sheffield Crown Court told the court that Brockhurst, aged 19, lived with his father until June this year.

“It seems the efforts to assist him had broken down, and damage was caused to the address,” said Ms Hollis.

Brockhurst, of Kings Way, Thurnscoe, was arrested and bailed in connection with the damage, and was still on bail when he attempted to break into his father’s home in the early hours of July 16 this year.

Ms Hollis said Brockhurst attempted to gain access to the property through the patio door, which he damaged in the process, but was unsuccessful.

He then moved on to the property’s adjoining garage, which had been left unlocked.

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“CCTV from the rear of the house shows the defendant and an unknown male entering into the damage...a bicycle costing £500 belonging to the defendant’s father was stolen and the second male can be seen wheeling it out,” said Ms Hollis.

She told the court that Brockhurst’s father reported him to the police and submitted a victim personal statement to the court.

“His statement outlines his frustrations at the inability to help his son, and what a completely different character his son is when under the influence of cocaine,” said Ms Hollis.

Brockhurst’s father subsequently withdrew both allegations he made to the police, concerning the criminal damage and the burglary, as well as his victim personal statement relating to the latter.

The Crown Prosecution Service chose to proceed to the charges relating to the burglary, but dropped the criminal damage matter.

Brockhurst pleaded guilty to charges of attempted burglary and burglary of a garage during today’s hearing. He also asked Judge Kelson to take the fact he was found with five packets of cocaine when he was arrested for this matter into consideration.

Ms Hollis told the court that the defendant has previously committed seven criminal offences from three convictions, including one for attempted robbery for which he was sentenced to 14 months in prison.

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Addressing Judge Peter Kelson QC, Amy Earnshaw said in mitigation: “I seek to persuade Your Honour to move away from an immediate custodial sentence, and allow the defendant to be dealt with in the community and to receive the support his family very dearly wish to give him.”

She added: “From a very young age he has been bullied at school. He is vulnerable and awkward in social situations. Only recently was he introduced to Class A drugs by his stepbrother. It caused him to feel very confident and relish the attentions others were giving him and caused him to be very quickly addicted to this substance, and things very quickly spiralled.”

Brockhurst, who appeared via videolink from HMP Doncaster, read a letter to the court in which he said he was ‘truly ashamed’ for hurting his family and wished to apologise for the crimes he has committed.

Judge Kelson jailed Brockhurst for 12 months.

During his sentencing remarks he referred to a psychiatric report that was submitted to the court when Brockhurst was convicted of attempted robbery which described the defendant as having a ‘great deal of shame’ for his actions.

He told Brockhurst: “You take the drugs, you offend against your family, you love your family, you feel shame for what you have done and it starts again. In your eyes it’s always someone else’s responsibility. I’m afraid your time has run out.”

- South Yorkshire Police have been asked to provide a custody image of Brockhurst

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