A drug addict who robbed a man at an Ipswich hotel has been jailed for 20 months after a judge who gave him a chance last year to change his ways ran out of patience with him.
Thirty-four-year-old Daniel Smith was given a two year prison sentence suspended for two years at Ipswich Crown Court in February last year after he admitted an offence of robbery.
He was also ordered to do 180 hours unpaid work and given a 60-day rehabilitation activity requirement.
On Monday, Smith, of no fixed address, admitted breaching the terms of the suspended sentence in October and December last year.
Ordering Smith to serve 20 months of the suspended sentence, Judge Martyn Levett told him: “You have been given so many opportunities by me to change your ways and to get off drugs.”
He said that Smith had destroyed the trust he’d placed in him by giving him the suspended sentence and urged him to “take a good long look” at himself and his behaviour for the future.
“When you are tempted by drugs you are always going to get yourself in more difficulties,” said the judge.
He said Smith, who appeared at the hearing via a prison video link, was so heavily involved in drugs that he couldn’t get away from them or the people he associated with.
The robbery offence related to an incident which took place at the Station Hotel in Burrell Road, Ipswich in August 2021 when a man was robbed of items including an iPad, an iPhone, cash and bank cards by Smith and an unidentified man.
Peter Spary, for Smith, said his client needed to use the time he was in custody to beat his drug addiction.
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