Digger thief had drunk 30 pints

Apr 4 2007 By Ron Warrilow, Birmingham Mail

A MAN stole a mechanical digger after drinking 30 pints of beer and then left the machine with a nearby householder after giving her his name and address, a court heard.

"The amount of alcohol you consumed that night was astonishingly high. I have never seen it so high," said Judge Anthony Cleary.

He said it was clear 24-year-old Wayne Harvey's alcohol problem went back a decade and it was behind his trouble with the police.

He added: "I take the view this offence was foolish rather than wicked. But cutting down your drinking is not enough. You have got to abstain."

The judge told Harvey he would defer sentence in the case for six months to see if he could prove he was able to resolve his drinking problem and stop breaking the law.

Samantha Forsyth, defending Harvey, who admitted stealing the £30,000 digger from a building site said: "His alcohol consumption that night was quite breathtaking, but he has now managed to reduce it to a more manageable level."

She said Harvey, of Lawrence Street, Willenhall, had got to stop his drinking because the downhill spiral would take him into an early grave.