Prison 'is best place' for Dumbarton thief Robert Hastings

Robert Hastings, 45, stole the items from an insecure motor vehicle parked outside an address in Glenfinnan Drive on August 30.

Hastings, of Overburn Avenue, was sentenced at the town’s sheriff court on Friday.

He had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to a single charge of theft.

A further charge alleging that he stole a quantity of alcohol from the Asda supermarket at the St James retail park, on March 1 this year, was dropped by prosecutors.

Hastings’ solicitor, Chris Rae, said his client was currently serving a four-month prison sentence imposed at Dumbarton Sheriff Court on October 10 for an unrelated matter.

Mr Rae told the court: “He has a quite unenviable record which is undoubtedly fuelled by his horrendous drug addiction.

“Even Mr Hastings accepts that a custodial sentence may be best in assisting him, and some comfort may be taken from that.”

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Describing the matter which led to Hastings being handed a four month jail term earlier this month, Mr Rae said his client “had been homeless and had nowhere else to go”.

He went on to tell the court that and that the offence was committed “in order to obtain a roof over his head”.

The court had previously asked for Hastings to be assessed for a ‘drug treatment and testing order’ (DTTO) as a possible punishment.

But Mr Rae said it had not been possible for this to be carried out by authorities, “due to [Hastings’] recent incarceration”.

Sheriff William Gallacher said: “A DTTO assessment was a shot in hope, rather than expectation. The court did its utmost in the hope that something else could be tried; it cannot.”

Repeat offender Hastings was sentenced to a further four months behind bars for the carpark theft incident.

This sentence will kick in when his current four-month term expires.

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