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Fuel thiefmum ‘lowonmoney’


A JOBLESS mother of three made offwithout paying for fuel twice, after believing she had got away with it the first time, a court heard. Caress Fullerton (29,) of Cas-


cade Close, Marden, appeared in Maidstone Magistrates Court after spending £128.44 on un- leaded petrol fromMorrisons and not paying for it. James Nichols told the court


Fullerton had filled up at Mor- risons and driven off on two oc- casions. Hugh Roberts, defending, told


the court that Fullerton had not intended to make off without payment, but as she was filling her car up, she realised she was lowonmoney. Mr Roberts said Fullerton told


police after she was arrested she had not received anything in the post the first time she did it on September 14, committed the same crime on September 25. He added: “Miss Fullerton re-


ceives just £140 a week after de- ductions for her rent and bills. She is on a very, very tight budget. “How she survives on this


money with three children under the age of nine is a mystery to me.” The court heard that Fullerton


was a singlemother and received just under £45 a week in child benefits to look after her children.


Chairman of the bench, Peter


May, said: “This is a very serious offence. It is farmore serious than a shop theft or something like that. “Sentences on these charges


usually result in a custodial sen- tence, so I hope this is a major wake-up call for you.” Fullerton was given a condi-


tional discharge of 12months and ordered to pay £128.44 to Mor- risons.


Policedrop ‘crystalball’


PREDICTIVE Policing, the com- puter-based system which uses algorithms to anticipate crime, has beendumpedbyKentPolice. The force used the method


which could‘foretell’when crim- inals are likely to strike by pick- ing up patterns of behaviours. The US-inspired crime data


computer programme has been replaced by a policing model where vitims and witnesses are placed at the centre of priorities. AKent Police spokesman said:


"Kent Police has not renewed its contractwith the currentprovier, Predictive Policing." Analysis and a review of the


£100,000 a year systemconvinced seniormanagers in the force that themodelwas notworth contin- uing with. Critics say that the


force was compelled to ditch it because “it simply didn’twork”. One serving officer toldDowns


Mail: “It was flawed from the start. “Every so often, the top brass


getswindof a fancy newbit of kit or theHome Secretary decrees it must be ‘rolled out’ and the poor saps on the ground have to im- plement it. “Some of us remember the ‘in-


telligence-led’ model of a few years back which was based around risk butwas not dissimi- lar to this. Thiswas anAmerican idea but probably could not be reasonably replicatedin theUK.” AlthoughKentPolice scrapped


the Predictive Policing model back inMarch, the news only fil- teredout into themedia recently.


Maidstone January 2019 11


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