Cops reformed Christmas crook back in jail

(CNS): According to reports in the UK press a burglar who fronted a Greater Manchester Police campaign urging offenders to stay out of prison this Christmas has been sent back to jail. Tommy Rouse, 35 had posed earlier in the month for the police campaign holding Christmas cards with slogans such as "don’t be a pudding this Christmas". The cards were sent to repeat offenders warning them about the risks of straying from the straight and narrow. However, Rouse, a father of five, breached his own bail conditions by testing positive for drugs and was sent back to jail.

He had been convicted of a range of offences in the past 20 years, including burglary, car theft, assault and drug offences and has spent nine Christmases behind bars. He had vowed to stay out of trouble this year so he could spend Christmas at home with his children.

Supt Mark Granby from Greater Manchester Police’s Bury division said: "Tommy Rouse was given the chance to go straight, make something of his life and undo some of the pain he had inflicted on himself, his family andsociety. After 18 weeks on bail he shattered the faith people had put in him by returning to drug use.”

The senior officer said the message in the cards was clear that for people like Rouse, when they are given a chance to turn their backs on crime and become useful members of society there are conditions. "Fail to keep those conditions and you will find yourself back behind bars whether it’s Christmas or not," Granby added.