'Safari boy' jailed for nine months

MARK HOOK, who was sent on an 88-day African tour at public expense, was jailed for nine months yesterday by a judge who said he had reached 'the end of the road'.

Recorder Jean Ritchie QC sent 18-year-old Hook to a young offenders' prison after he admitted handling stolen property while on the run from the Bryn Melyn centre in North Wales. Hook, from Gloucester, had only recently completed an earlier six- month youth custody sentence for a burglary committed at Easter when he was on home leave from Bryn Melyn.

At yesterday's hearing at Gloucester Crown Court, Hook admitted handling goods stolen in a house burglary in Stroud, Gloucestershire, on 25 May. He also admitted driving while disqualified and without insurance on the same day.

Simon Davis, for the prosecution, said police stopped an Austin Metro car in Stroud and found Hook driving with another man, Jason Hibberd, in the passenger seat. On the rear seat officers found a wooden grandmother clock, alcoholic drinks, a large quantity of decorative plates and a portable compact disc player.

Mr Davis said Hibberd denied knowledge of them and Hook claimed they had come from his aunt's house.

He said Hook had 'quite a few' criminal convictions going back to 1991. Mr Davis listed full details of Hook's convictions and four court appearances since his return from his safari last autumn.

In the most recent, on 27 July, magistrates sentenced him to six months' youth detention for burglary and theft from a house in Gloucester.

Hibberd, who admitted burglary and handling, was jailed for 18 months.

Mark Hook's brother was arrested outside the court for an alleged breach of the peace. Jason Hook, 19, allegedly shouted abuse at members of the press waiting for his brother to be sentenced.

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