Prison for Rugby man who repeatedly failed to turn up for unpaid work after being caught with a knife and drugs

After getting a chance when he was given a suspended prison sentence for possessing a knife and drugs, a Rugby man repeatedly failed to turn up to do unpaid work.

And at Warwick Crown Court, Pawel Palencia paid the price for his failure to comply with the community order – when it was revoked and he was instead jailed for six months.

Palencia (35) of Oakfield Road, Rugby, had pleaded guilty to failing to comply with the order, which had been imposed in November last year for offences of possessing a bladed article and possessing amphetamine.

Prosecutor Ian Speed said that in December 2018 police officers on patrol in Stoke Row in Coventry saw something passed between Palencia in a Vauxhall car and two men next to the car.

Palencia, who had no licence to drive in this country and no insurance, then drove off, but was stopped by the police after a short pursuit.

He was searched, and was found to have a purse containing seven wraps of amphetamine, worth £125, so he was arrested.

In the custody suite at the police station he was found to have a folding knife with a three-inch blade in his pocket.

Mr Speed said that in November, after he had pleaded guilty to the charges, Palencia was given a community order with a rehabilitation activity and 100 hours of unpaid work.

But he failed to attend an induction appointment for the unpaid work, and since then had been given 15 further appointments of which he had turned up for just one, and he had also failed to attend for the rehabilitation activity.

Despite that, a probation officer had prepared a report recommending that the order be allowed to continue.

But Mr Speed told the judge: “I don’t agree. He’s failing to comply in any way, shape or form with the order.”

Palencia had been due to be dealt with at the end of February, but failed to turn up at the court, resulting in a warrant being issued for his arrest.

Amanda O’Mara, defending, explained that Palencia said he had failed to attend the hearing in February because he had been out of the country attending a funeral in Poland at the time.

And pointing out that since his arrest Palencia had spent just over two weeks in custody, she suggested that had been ‘a shot across the bows,’ and that he would comply with the order if it was allowed to continue.

But Judge Barry Berlin commented: “He has an absolutely shocking record for breaches of court orders.”

Jailing Palencia, the judge told him: “You were given a chance on the 28th of November.

“Rather unusually you were not sentenced to an immediate sentence of imprisonment, because these sorts of offences are taken seriously.

“But having been given a chance on a community order, you simply didn’t take that chance.

“Those people who come in front of me, having been given a chance for a serious offence and not taken it, must face an immediate term.”