Hartlepool teenager spared jail for 12 vehicle arson attack sentenced at Teesside Crown Court for fresh offence
A Hartlepool teenager has been given a second chance to turn his back on crime after he committed an offence just ten days after being spared jail.
Eighteen-year-old Ethan Chapman was given 18 months imprisonment suspended for two years when he was sentenced at Teesside Crown Court on July 30 for a large-scale arson.
He was part of a revenge attack at an industrial unit on Hartlepool’s Longhill Industrial Estate on April 6 this year when 12 vehicles were destroyed in a blaze.
The court previously heard the attack was linked to organised crime.
But just ten days after Chapman walked out of court he tried to steal a car’s registration plate in Innes Road, Hartlepool, on August 10.
He pleaded guilty to interfering with a motor vehicle and found himself back in the crown court last Thursday.
But the judge was persuaded not to send him to prison, and instead gave him a second chance.
Chapman’s barrister Stephen Constatine argued the suspended sentence had “not had time to fully take effect” yet.
He added Chapman, of Stockton Road, Hartlepool, had attended five probation appointments.
Mr Constatine added: “He hasn’t just thrown in the towel. He has shown some determination to work with the authorities to keep his life on track.”
Recorder Nicholas Lumley said he was “just persuaded” it would be unjust to send Chapman to prison on this occasion.
He said he had taken the defendant’s age and personal circumstances into account and noted the offence was “very different” to the previous arson.
Recorder Lumley imposed an addition 50 hours of unpaid work and rehabilitation activity days.