A homeless and heavily convicted Carlisle man has been given one chance by a judge to work with professionals in a bid to secure settled accommodation.
Andrew John Jason Bell, 48, clocked up his 253rd offence yesterday when he went to the city’s railway station.
In May last year, and in the wake of repeat offending, Bell had been served with a criminal behaviour order.
This placed restrictions on his movements and is designed both to keep him out of trouble and protect members of the community.
One condition prohibits Bell from entering Carlisle Railway Station. But at around 4.50pm yesterday, Sunday February 15, police were asked to attend a waiting room next to platform four.
Bell was sitting on the floor of the waiting room. He confirmed he had neither a valid ticket nor any intention to travel by train. He was arrested, and in court today admitted flouting the order.
He was said to have breached the order seven times.
A prosecutor said Bell, of no fixed address, had 252 previous offences on his criminal record. The last conviction dated back to early December of last year when he was handed a 10-week prison sentence for a previous order breach.
The defence said Bell had been present at the railway station for an hour and, at the present time, had nowhere to live.
“We don’t dispute or seek to minimise his antecedent history. Mr Bell is well known to the courts. The current situation is that he had nowhere to live.”
It was understood that members of a resettlement team at Durham prison — where Bell was incarcerated — had made a referral to Cumberland Council as attempts were made to find him accommodation following his release.
However, Cumberland Council staff had said that no referral was received, the court heard.
“He is in limbo. He has gone to the train station seeking shelter. There is no associated mischief,” said Katie Scattergood, mitigating.
Bell had been released from custody last Wednesday. “I do want to engage with the council. They won’t engage with me,” Bell told district judge Philip Holden.
“I get sent to prison or four, eight, 12 weeks. Every time I get out I’m in the same cycle again. I would like the chance to get out and see if I could get a house.”
The district judge suspended a 12-week jail term for 12 months.
He told Bell: “I am going to give you one chance but you won’t get a second chance, do you understand? So it is up to you now. If you come back and complain about the fact that you have no accommodation, like you have today, it will fall on deaf ears.
I will give you an opportunity to get some settled accommodation. That’s what I can do for you. What you can do for yourself now is stay out of trouble.”
