Skegness: Man pleads guilty to two counts of theft from a motor vehicle and other CBO breaches

On 2 November a man was captured on CCTV between 2.04am and 2.13am, on Burlington Way in Skegness breaking into a Mercedes Vito van from which he stole clothes glasses and cash to an unknown value.

By doing so he was breaching two conditions of his Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO) by not being at his home address at that hour, but also by ‘touching a vehicle that did not belong to him’.

Prior to that, at 11.44pm on 13 August on Norwood Road, Skegness, this man also broke into a BMW 1 series and stole Ray-Ban sunglasses to the value of £150, a Michael Kors handbag to the value of £200, as well as bank cards within a small Michael Kors purse to the value of £70, along with a driving licence and around £30 in cash.  Again, in doing so, this man was in breach of his CBO.

How did we know it was Paul Priestly? As we do routinely, Neighbourhood Policing officers are always speaking with our community, learning and problem-solving within our community.  Plus our residents were responding to our appeals for help, providing pieces of intelligence via various channels such as speaking directly to our officers on patrol, via our online reporting page here, or entirely anonymously via CrimeStoppers.  These nuggets of intelligence are priceless to us and in this instance proved to be pivotal in identifying 46-year-old Priestly as our number one suspect for the above incidents.

We had received information that Priestly might be sleeping rough in a tent somewhere along the beach in Skegness.  With this information, our drone pilot was stood up, and indeed a tent was located on the beach. 

During a Section 18 search of this tent, a Michael Kors handbag, containing bank cards belonging to the BMW 1 series victim, along with that person’s driving licence, were found.

During that same search a quantity of white powder and cannabis was found, which was subsequently tested and proved to be amphetamine and cannabis.  Priestly admitted that it was amphetamine and cannabis belonging to him for personal use.

This information proved vital in evidencing these crimes.  As ever, we encourage our community to report all instances of crime, even if we are unable to respond immediately.  We use this valuable information to help build a more robust intelligence picture, mapping instances to build a criminal profile, particularly when tackling prolific offenders and incident types. 

Paul Priestly was arrested, charged and remanded into custody on Thursday, 21 November. 

He appeared before Boston Magistrates’ Court on Friday, 22 November where he pleaded guilty to:

• Two counts of theft from a motor vehicle
• Possession of a controlled drug of class B – Amphetamine
• Possession of a controlled drug of class B – Cannabis
• Two counts of breaching a Criminal Behaviour Order

Skegness Neighbourhood Policing Insp Jacky Evans spoke about Priestly’s arrest and guilty plea: “Identifying Priestley in relation to these offences and putting him before the court is a direct result of the community pulling together and working with us. I want to thank everyone who responded to our appeals and spoke to officers on the ground in the areas across Skegness that were being targeted. I know how much concern this has caused local residents which makes the outcome today even more satisfying. Our community spirit in this area is unwavering and we will continue to work together to identify, charge and prosecute those that seek to cause us harm”.

Priestly was bailed, and will appear at Boston Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, 27 November for sentencing.