A Worcester GARAGE scammer and drug addict who was spared jail is back inside – and was told she would likely stay behind bars.
Catherine Eaves appeared at Worcester Crown Court on HMP Eastwood Park’s videolink on Friday after being detained on remand pending sentencing.
The 47-year-old was given a suspended sentence by Judge James Burbidge QC on Friday March 19 for committing the scams at the Commandery Service Station on Bath Road, Worcester.
Judge Burbidge decided to give her a chance, but Eaves has since broken the suspended sentence in a number of ways, including damaging clothing, violating a criminal code of conduct intended to keep her on the line, and failing to keep her curfew – she just breaks two days after the imposition.
In court, she admitted that she was absent from her place of curfew between March 21 and March 26 of this year and that she was on March 25.
Eaves also accepted that she had been tried in the Kidderminster Magistrates Court on May 28 for damage to property and violation of her criminal conduct order and taken for conviction in the Crown Court.
We reported in March how Eaves admitted fraud by misrepresentation after using the card five times at Commandery Service Station, Bath Road, Worcester. The five transactions totaled £ 108, but Eaves, who was then living at the Blue Inn in Redditch, was identified by police after investigating CCTV. The Crown did not pursue them for the break-in when the wallet was stolen.
The judge sentenced her to six months probation and issued a joint injunction providing for 40 days of rehabilitation activity and a month-long curfew between 9:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.
In a speech last week, her attorney Michael Aspinall said Eaves managed to wean himself off the drugs.
“She got a property after nine years of homelessness,” he said.
Judge Nicolas Cartwright, who heard the case on Friday, adjourned the case for a week following a motion from Mr. Aspinall.
Judge Cartwright said: “In this case, Catherine Eaves violated one of the conditions of the suspended sentence for fraud by staying out of curfew on suspended prison sentence for violating a criminal code of conduct and damaging clothing.
“While it is very likely that the suspended sentence will be activated, the law requires the court to examine the extent to which the suspended sentence has been met. This information is currently not and will not be available.” until the liaison officer is back on trial. ”
Judge Cartwright went to Eaves directly and said his adjournment would not be taken as an indication of the week’s sentence. The case will be heard again this Friday.