St Albans burglar jailed after failing rehabilitation scheme

FAILURE to stick to a scheme aimed at diverting criminals away from a life of crime and rehabilitating them has resulted in a long prison sentence for a St Albans man.

Oliver Darcy, 22, of New Kent Road, St Albans, was involved in a conspiracy to commit car key burglaries across Herts, London and Essex, and was originally committed to the Choices and Consequences (C2) programme in July

But at Luton Crown Court last week, he was found to have failed to adhere to the conditions of the scheme – having subsequently been charged with driving whilst disqualified and handling stolen goods – and was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison.

Darcy was arrested under Operation Bath which was led by the Herts’ Specialist Investigation Team and discovered that a gang of eight men targeting addresses and stealing cars to order in Herts and Essex had broken into 55 properties.

The aim was to steal car keys and subsequently drive off in the targeted vehicle.

Det Insp Stuart Campfield, who managed the C2 scheme at the time Darcy was committed to it, said this week: “C2 can change offender’s lives around but it is far from an easy option. Lots of support is given to the candidates but it requires their total commitment and involves a very demanding programme with strict conditions, which unfortunately Darcy was unable to stick to.

“As with any candidate who breaches the conditions, he faced the penalty for the full extent of the crimes he committed.”