M-Cat boy back in court for bizarre behaviour
Drug strongly linked to crimes, say police
A YOUTH convicted of crushing a hedgehog while high on drugs has been been caught re-offending in similar circumstances.
Last July, the 15-year-old told police he had taken ‘meow meow’ – street slang for banned designer drug mephedrone, or M-Cat – and had dropped a heavy metal plate on the helpless animal “for something to do”.
The boy, who lives in Greenham but who can not be named for legal reasons, had earlier broken into a compound at Baxter Healthcare Ltd in Wallingford Road, Compton, and stolen a ladder.
On Thursday, July 2, he was back in the dock, charged with stealing another ladder, going equipped for theft and possessing mephedrone again.
However, Helen Waite, prosecuting, said the Crown was withdrawing the ‘going equipped’ charge.
The boy, now aged 16, said he had taken the ladder, not to commit theft but because he was “buzzing” on mephedrone and desperately wanted to climb something.
Ms Waite said officers spotted the boy and another youth running down Northbrook Street, Newbury, at 2.50am, carrying a ladder.
She added: “Unsurprisingly, this aroused their suspicions and they gave chase.”
The boy was arrested nearby, having abandoned the ladder, and was found to have a bag containing white powder, the court heard.
Ms Waite said: “He said they had been wandering around, taking drugs, and had stolen the ladder from Northbrook Leisure Centre.
“They had jumped a fence into a construction site but the boy said the ladder was not for theft. He just wanted to climb on something because he was ‘buzzing’.”
The boy admitted stealing the ladder and possessing a Class B controlled drug on May 15 this year.
Simon Grant, defending, said: “They were just larking around under the influence of drugs. It was just high jinks.”
A spokeswoman for the Youth Offending Team said the boy had responded well to a previous referral order.
Presiding magistrate Brenda Harding told the boy: “Mephedrone is a very dangerous drug. Its long-term effects can be serious.”
The boy was made subject to a six month referral order and ordered to pay a statutory surcharge of £10.
p In June 2013 the Newbury Weekly News reported how a local man died after taking mephedrone plus a cocktail of so-called legal highs.
And earlier this year, Sgt Paul Morgan of the Hungerford neighbourhood police team warned that mephedrone was becoming an increasing problem.
Mephedrone is a stimulant with similar properties to cocaine and MDMA, or ecstasy, and was widely available over the internet and even from shops until its classification as a controlled drug in 2010.
It has been linked to a number of recent West Berkshire Magistrates’ Court cases involving bizarre behaviour and burglaries.
In one, a Lambourn man burgled a property but left his haul strewn behind him because he was so addled on mephedrone.
It has also been a factor in a number of deaths investigated by the Berkshire coroner, including a drowning.
On Friday, February 13, more than 90 officers from Thames Valley Police conducted raids across the district in an operation intended to disrupt its supply.