Joshua Paul Spicer-Campbell pleads guilty to 74 crimes

A brick worker’s staggering crime spree has come to an end after he was caught driving multiple stolen cars and stealing thousands of dollars worth of fuel, smokes and clothes.

A brick worker and welder has faced court over an extraordinary crime spree in which he was caught driving multiple stolen cars and stealing thousands of dollars of clothes, fuel, and smokes.

Joshua Paul Spicer-Campbell faced Gympie District Court on Friday over the string of crimes carried out from August to December 2022.

The court heard the 24-year-old’s long list of offences included driving nine stolen cars, stealing more than $5300 of petrol, using stolen credit cards to buy about $1200 of cigarettes, and stealing $1150 worth of shirts from a Myer Department store.

On one occasion he stole a jacket, leaf blower, hedge trimmer, and battery charger from the personal area of a service station, and he entered multiple people’s homes, stole their keys and drove off with their cars.

One car had $18,000 worth of tools in the back.

Joshua Paul Spicer-Campbell faced Gympie District Court Friday over the extraordinary string of crimes carried out from August to December 2022. He pleaded guilty to 74 charges.

Another had a box trailer with $25,000 of machinery.

CCTV caught him behind the wheel of a car almost two dozen times, despite his licence having been suspended by the courts.

Only some of the stolen vehicles were ever recovered by police.

Many of the crimes were committed while Spicer-Campbell was probation.

His partner sat in the public gallery, quietly crying as the court spent more than an hour untangling the dozens of offences.

He pleaded guilty to 74 charges in total, and submitted a letter of apology to the court.

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Judge Nathan Jarro said Joshua Paul Spicer-Campbell should be “disgusted and extremely remorseful” over his offending, and sentenced him to three years’ jail with an immediate parole release owing to 10 months spent in custody on remand. Photo Patrick Woods / Gympie Times

Judge Nathan Jarro referred directly to the letter in sentencing, saying, as the 24-year-old himself had written, he should be “disgusted and extremely remorseful” with his actions.

He sentenced Spicer-Campbell to three years’ jail, with an immediate parole release date owing to about 10 months already spent in custody on remand.

Judge Jarro stripped Spicer-Campbell of his licence for three years, and issued a fine of 50 penalty units (about $6000) for evading the police.

Full list of charges

21 x Driving without a licence which was suspended by the courts

18 x Stealing

9 x Unlawful use of a motor vehicle

5 x Offences against the Bail Act

5 x Offences under the Drugs Misuse Act

3 x Burglary

2 x Entering premises with intent to commit an indictable offence

2 x Fraud

1 x Break and enter

1 x Receiving tainted property

1 x Entering premises and stealing

1 x Possessing dangerous drugs

1 x Contravening an order to provide his phone’s pass code

1 x Possession of explosives

1 x Driving while a relevant drug was in the system

1 x Evading police

1 x Driving without due care

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