Drug addict stole £3k in change from Norfolk arcades

A habitual drug user stole more than £3,000 in coins he raided from arcade machines during a spate of offences in a seaside town, a court has heard.

Craig Boulstridge, 47, a class A drug user over the past three decades, targeted arcades in Great Yarmouth.

Over the course of several raids in the spring and summer, he broke cash boxes and collected around £3100 in £1 and £2 coins.
According to Norwich Crown Court, Boulstridge was at Wellington Pier in Great Yarmouth on April 7, when he stole a cash box from an arcade machine holding £1 and £2 coins worth between £700 and £800.
Prosecutor Simon Gladwell said that on May 9, Boulstridge was at the Leisureland arcade, where he poured £800 in coins into a bag before fleeing after breaking into pay boxes.

Then, on June 2, this year, he stole around £500 in cash after breaking cash boxes at the Mint Arcade.

Boulstridge then smashed into six machines at arcades on Britannia Pier and stole £1000 in the early hours of the morning.
He appeared in court on Tuesday (December 17), having admitted to three thefts and criminal damages.

Boulstridge also acknowledged fraud after attempting to use a credit card stolen from a car in Yarmouth on April 12 this year and the theft of a £900 cycle from Norwich Camping and Leisure on May 13.

The defendant, of Paget Road in Yarmouth, requested that 14 further offenses, including eight thefts from gambling machines, be considered (TIC).

Recorder Nicola Fitches imposed a jail sentence of 38 weeks and four days imprisonment, citing Boulstridge’s “appalling offending history”.

She claimed there was “some degree of planning” behind the “series of offences” he committed.

Danielle O’Donovan, mitigating, stated, “These are the offences of a class A drug user over a couple of months.”

She described Boulstridge as a “habitual Class A drug user” and “habitual offender” who had been in the “throes of a class A drug addiction” for over 30 years.

The barrister claimed client had been misbehaving to support a habit he couldn’t “legitimately” afford.