A homeless man described by a Wimbledon magistrate as having one of the longest and saddest records in the court’s history was jailed again yesterday.
Oliver Tapley, 35, who has 46 convictions and whose record goes back to the age of 16, pleaded guilty to possessing an offensive weapon.
He told police on November 16 he had a Stanley knife in his tobacco tin at Kingston Churches on Fife Road, which he had used to scrape out his crack pipe after finding it in Market Place the day before.
Tapley’s solicitor said his problem with class A drugs spanned back 18 years and he had moved to London to try to break away from associates in Somerset.
“You have an extensive record, the longest and possibly saddest we have seen here,” said the presiding magistrate.
“There is a mandatory six month sentence today and that is our only option.”
She also sentenced him to eight weeks in prison, to be served at the same time, for stealing men’s toiletries from Wilko and perfumes from John Lewis in Kingston.
