Serial offender is back behind bars after breaching a town centre ban

A serial offender who went on to breach his Criminal Behaviour Order for the ninth time when he woke at a town centre bus station after taking drugs has been put back behind bars.
Pictured is serial offender Paul Wells, 34, of no fixed abode, who has been jailed for 16 weeks after breaching a town centre ban.Pictured is serial offender Paul Wells, 34, of no fixed abode, who has been jailed for 16 weeks after breaching a town centre ban.
Pictured is serial offender Paul Wells, 34, of no fixed abode, who has been jailed for 16 weeks after breaching a town centre ban.

Chesterfield magistrates’ court heard on Tuesday, June 5, how Paul Wells, 34, of no fixed abode, was caught by police on Beetwell Street, in Chesterfield town centre, after he had been given a ban from entering the area.

Prosecuting solicitor Becky Allsop said: “He appeared before in court on December 6, 2016, when a Criminal Behaviour Order was imposed and that order was to last five years and in among the list of prohibitions he was prohibited from entering Chesterfield town centre.”

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Mrs Allsop added that police were notified by town centre CCTV operators that at about 1.15am, on June 5, Wells had been in a bus shelter area of The Pavements shopping centre and he was subsequently arrested.

Pictured is Beetwell Street, Chesterfield.Pictured is Beetwell Street, Chesterfield.
Pictured is Beetwell Street, Chesterfield.

Wells, who was originally given a CBO following a conviction for offences of outraging public decency, has accumulated eight previous CBO breaches and admitted breaching his CBO for the ninth time on June 5.

Defence solicitor Ande Hunter said: “Every time he’s sent to custody he’s released from custody without support and with no accommodation and his benefits are not sorted out and the only area he knows and feels safe in is Chesterfield town centre.”

Mr Hunter added that Wells was only released on Friday, June 1, from custody and had to spend two nights homeless in the streets and he took the cannabinoid zombie-drug Mamba and woke at the Beetwell Street bus station and did not know how he got there.

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The probation service stated Wells reoffended within four days of being released from custody and he has previously failed to comply with the probation service and has substance misuse and mental health issues.

Magistrates, who stated that they failed to find any mitigating features in the case, sentenced Wells to 16 weeks of custody.