A MAN who carried a loaded firearm in public and used it to kill a wild bird has been jailed by Scarborough magistrates.
Lee Brown, who Scarborough Magistrates’ Court heard was of no fixed abode, had been given a chance to avoid jail when he was handed a suspended prison sentence order for the offences in July.
However, the 22-year-old blew his chance by failing to comply with the terms of the order and 15 weeks of the 17 week suspended sentence were activated.
Paul Willan, of the Probation Service, told the court: “He is in breach of the suspended sentence order made earlier this year.
“He failed to attend an unpaid work appointment on August 2. He stated that he had been ill. We said he would need to provide medical evidence but he did not do that.”
Brown then failed to attend an appointment on September 13, when he once again claimed he was unwell but failed to provide evidence.
Mr Willan said that Brown had attended 17 out of 24 appointments, with four of the missed appointments being classed as unacceptable.
“When he does attend his behaviour has been good on occasions and on other occasions not so good,” Mr Willan added.
“There are concerns that he is still drinking to excess and using illegal substances.”
Nick Tubbs, mitigating, said: “He hopes you will allow the order to continue. He is a young man with issues to resolve.
“One issue is homelessness. He has been sofa-surfing. He has been staying at an address in Whitby but there are problems there.
“He has not availed himself of the help offered. He would like to start putting his back into it with a little more gusto than hitherto.
“I have said if you allowed the order to continue he will be very much in the last chance saloon.”
Magistrates, however, told Brown he had wasted his final opportunity and he was led to the cells.