Excuse lands yob in dog house with judge

Mar 10 2010 By Emma Heseltine

CHERTSEY'S 'public enemy number one' is in the dog house again over his latest excuse for missing probation appointments.

Darren Turner, 26, explained that his puppy had eaten his free travel warrant when it came through his letterbox, Guildford Crown Court was told on Monday.

His solicitor David Castle said: "I'm not going to talk about his puppy's voracious appetite. He has now put a cage around the letter box to make sure the travel warrant isn't eaten again."

But Judge Peter Moss was not impressed.

He said: "It's a schoolboy's excuse – my dog ate my essay."

Jan West, for the probation service, agreed, saying: "It's one I use for training purposes."

Then Judge Moss spotted Turner having difficulty staying awake in the dock. "He's so sleepy, he can't keep his eyes open," he said. But Mr Castle denied his client was back on drugs, blaming Turner's dozy condition on too many late nights.

Mrs West agreed that tests showed Turner is now off drugs.

Turner, of Barker Road, Chertsey, admitted breaching a two-year supervised community order imposed in October for 10 different offences, including burglary, assaults on the police and threatening behaviour.

Mr Castle said: "This is the second breach of the order. But he's actually managed to go six months without getting arrested."

To which Judge Moss said: "It's remarkable isn't it?"

Turner was ordered to do 20 hours unpaid work, and the judge said he was encouraged to hear the defendant had got himself a temporary job.
But he advised Turner: "Get some sleep."

At a hearing in October, the court was told that the defendant had committed 88 offences over 12 years, and Judge Moss branded Turner: "His own worst enemy and the worst enemy of his locality."