Drugged up thief was 'on another planet,' court hears

Officers used incapacitant spray

A THIEF high on drugs was so addled “it was like he was on another planet”, according to his own solicitor.

In the dock at West Berkshire Magistrates’ Court was 34-year-old Ian David Cornwall.

Helen Waite, prosecuting on Thursday, June 16, said police identified Mr Cornwall from CCTV footage after he stole lager from the Co-op in Newbury.

Mr Cornwall, of Gordon Road, Thatcham, admitted stealing alcohol worth £8 on February 14.

He also has a lengthy list of prior convictions, magistrates were told.

During another, recent episode of his previous offending, magistrates were told how a mystery drug made Mr Cornwall so crazed that police had to use the incapacitant spray, Captor, to subdue him.

Stephen Collins, defending, said he saw his client subsequent to his latest arrest and said what followed was “one of the weirdest interviews out of thousands I’ve had in the last 20 years or so”.

He added: “He was seen by doctors and assessed as fit to be interviewed but he was behaving extremely strangely.

“I was really worried about him, it was like he was on another planet. My advice under the circumstances was for him to remain silent and it seems he then took that to the extreme, as it were.”

The court heard that, from that point on, Mr Cornwall uttered not a single word to bewildered police officers.

Mr Collins went on: “At the time he was struggling with a drugs issue, pills, and he couldn’t remember a thing about what happened.

“It brought him to his senses and he hasn’t taken a single drug since. Today he is lucid and articulate.”

Magistrates imposed a 12-month conditional discharge on Mr Cornwall, who is already subject to a drug rehabilitation requirement.

In addition he was required to pay £50 costs, a £20 statutory surcharge plus £8 compensation to the store.