JURORS acquitted a former heroin addict of burgling his parents home, taking his mum’s bank card, step-dad’s watch and £5 in cash.

Instead, they found Christopher Hobgen guilty of six counts of fraud by false representation after he used without permission his mum’s Barclays contactless card to buy tobacco, a mobile phone, t-shirts, shorts and pyjamas from stores in Bradford-on-Avon and Trowbridge on February 18.

The 37-year-old also admitted two shoplifting charges and asked for another two shop thefts to be taken into consideration.

Branding the frauds mean, Judge Peter Crabtree OBE sentenced Hobgen to six months imprisonment for each count of fraud and a month for each shoplifting charge. The jail spells are to be served concurrently.

However, Hobgen stands to be released from prison immediately – after serving the last few months on remand.

Defending, Virginia Cornwall said her client planned to move away from the area. He had made steps whilst in prison to rid himself of his heroin habit and was now on a methadone prescription. Hobgen had experience in the building trade and hoped to return to site work once he was fit enough, Ms Cornwall added.

Mum accused

In a trial lasting a day-and-a-half, Hobgen accuse his own mum of making up claims he had burgled the family home in Bradford-on-Avon – just to get him back into prison, where he stood a better chance of kicking his drug habit.

“It’s tough love,” said Hobgen, who appeared in court sporting a distinctive Mohican-style haircut.

He claimed he had been staying with his parents and 92-year-old step-grandmother at their home on Fitzmaurice Close, awaiting a space at Bath’s Julian House homeless hostel. But he had rowed with his mum after she found drugs needles in the house.

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Fitzmaurice Close Picture: GOOGLE

In Hobgen’s account, he had decided to leave Bradford for a number of weeks to stay with a friend – despite licence conditions after he was released from prison in January requiring him to notify the authorities of any change in address.

Mum Shirley had left her bank card on the kitchen counter, ready for Hobgen to take to the shops the following morning to buy tobacco, a cheap mobile phone and new clothes for his trip away. After using the contactless card in stores in Bradford-on-Avon and Trowbridge, Hobgen said he had returned to the family home to post the card through the letterbox.

Prosecutor Simon Goodman asked Hobgen if he was accusing his step-dad and mum - who said her son was not saying the family home on the night of the alleged burglary - of making up the claims.

Hobgen replied: "They're lying. The reason they're doing that is tough love."

'Nonsense’

Hobgen’s account was dismissed by Mr Goodman as nonsense.

Opening the Crown’s case, Mr Goodman said: “Being burgled at home is always unpleasant.

“In February of this year Mr and Mrs Hobgen were at home with an elderly relative and they had gone to bed.

“They woke up in the morning to discover they had been burgled. That, you might think, had been unpleasant enough. But when it became clear the person that had burgled them was their own son it became even harder to deal with.

“It may be the defendant can’t bring himself to admit he burgled his own mother, but that’s exactly what the prosecution says happened in this case.”

Mr Goodman said Hobgen had fallen out with his parents earlier in February after they accused him of taking cash. His mum had sent a text telling her son he was not welcome at her home.

She said they had not seen Hobgen for two weeks. Her son had come to the house on February 17, asking for a pair of his jeans. Mrs Hogben and her husband, Philip, had not let the defendant inside the house – with the latter instead speaking to him through the kitchen window.

It was claimed Hobgen had returned later that night. Mud in the first-floor bathroom suggested the defendant had broken in through an open window.

Mrs Hobgen had cleaned the mud away, initially thinking it might have been left the previous evening after the couple cleaned their two dogs following a Sunday walk. It was not until later that morning, after noticing the front door was unlocked, that she found her bank card was missing and a check of her online bank statement revealed it had been used at McColls, Sainsbury’s and ASDA.

'Mean'

Sentencing Hobgen, Judge Crabtree said: “This was a mean series of offences against your mother, who had done her best to support you despite your difficulties with respect to your addiction.

“These are offences which have certainly had an impact on her.”