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Drug debt man narrowly avoids jail
14/12/2005 17:13:00
A man who stole £68,000 worth of computer equipment in order to rid a drug debt has amazingly avoided a jail sentence.
Instead, 21-year-old Kevin Fitzgerald was handed an 18-month rehabilitation order after the judge for his case was convinced that he was a changed man, icSouthLondon reports.
Fitzgerald was accompanied by two other people to carry out the burglary at Southbank University.
While Fitzgerald was caught on CCTV, his accomplices were never discovered and neither was the stolen computer equipment.
In his defence, Robert Whittaker claimed that his client had got caught up in drugs from an early age and the robbery was part of his efforts to pay back his debts.
Since the burglary, Fitzgerald has moved away from the capital to live with his girlfriend and her father gave evidence suggesting the young man had changed his ways and kicked the drug habit once and for all.
Judge Nigel Sweeney agreed that Fitzgerald was trying to turn his life around and handed him the rehab order instead of jail.
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