A ‘PROLIFIC’ Worcester offender has been jailed for six months for stealing a charity box after an investigation by British Transport Police officers.
James Marson, 39, of St Pauls Street, Worcester, pleaded guilty to burglary on Tuesday, November 7 at Redditch Magistrates’ Court and was sentenced on the same day.
Marson was also sentenced for other offences including theft from a vehicle, possession of Class A drugs and theft from a shop.
On Monday, November 6 the 39-year-old was caught climbing out of a Network Rail depot at Worcester Shrub Hill station by British Transport Police (BTP) officer, PC Ryan Davis, who was just minutes into his first ever independent shift when the theft happened.
PC Davis initially detained Marson for trespassing and he was joined a short time later by Sgt Phil Horne.
Sgt Horne then made some further investigations and he found that a Kidney Research charity box inside the depot had been broken into and money taken.
As a result, Marson was arrested for burglary and Sgt Horne arranged for a crime scene officer to recover fingerprints from the damaged box.
Marson was taken to custody where West Mercia Police charged him for theft and drugs offences and BTP charged him for the charity box theft.
He was remanded in custody for court the following morning where he received a six month prison sentence.
Insp David Smith said: “This was a great job by Sgt Horne and PC Davies, who was minutes into his first independent patrol at BTP.
“Marson is a prolific offender, as demonstrated by the charges brought against him by the local police force when we brought him in for questioning.
“I’m pleased he is now behind bars for his crimes.”
Sgt Phil Horne added: “Marson was particularly obstructive during the course of his arrest and gave false details to officers.
“He was a challenging prisoner to deal with and swallowed some drugs that he had secreted in his mouth and also became aggressive towards BTP officers whilst being searched in custody, with help from the IOM team from West Mercia Police CID.
“The swiftness and severity of his custodial sentence reflects his prolific criminal activities.”
