Kettering man put behind bars again

A Kettering man has been jailed for the fourth time in just over a year after committing another crime days after he was spared from prison.

Thomas Gaffney, formerly of Highfield Crescent but now of no fixed address, had been given a community order by magistrates in Northampton on March 18 after damaging a window at the town's Lower Street job centre.

They told him he would have to have treatment for alcohol dependency and pay £936 in compensation.

But just two days later, on March 20, the 46-year-old was arrested again.

This time he had smashed a window at a Betfred bookies in Northampton and he was hit with another charge of criminal damage, which he pleaded guilty to.

And magistrates said they had no option but to send him to prison because he failed to express a willingness to comply with a community order.

Gaffney, who also uses the alias Dean Gaffney, was jailed for a total of 14 weeks and told to pay Betfred £250 in compensation.

Last year he was given three prison sentences for a string of offences including burglary, theft and criminal damage.