A Great Yarmouth man has been handed a five-year Criminal Behaviour Order after persistently begging while claiming to be a member of the armed forces.
The Great Yarmouth Magistrates’ Court order means Leigh Wilde, 34 of Nelson Road North, is prohibited from begging for money, cigarettes or any other item, by sign, word, gesture or positioning himself in a way to suggest this.
He is also banned him from representing himself as a member or ex-member of the armed forces with the purpose of obtaining money or items from people.
The court heard he was seen to beg in a public place on several occasions between April and October 2017 claiming he was ex-military and had been left stranded by friends needing money to get home in Taunton.
Wilde was also sentenced to four months imprisonment, suspended for 12 months, and given a drug rehabilitation order.
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