Jail cell after Riverlink sleepover

TRAIN passenger Bradley Richards' excuse for not having a ticket or go card was that he barely had enough money to survive on.

TRAIN passenger Bradley Richards' excuse for not having a ticket or go card was that he barely had enough money to survive on.

The fare evasion at Ipswich station on February 20 was one of three occasions Richards had been nabbed for the offence.

He was also charged with trespass after searching though industrial bins at Riverlink, having been released from jail several weeks prior.

Sadly for Richards, his new offences put him straight back into a jail cell.

Appearing from jail via video-link, Bradley John Richards, 40, from Leichhardt, pleaded guilty in Ipswich Magistrates Court to three counts of trespass; and two counts of evading train fares.

Prosecutor Sergeant Paul Caldwell said Richards told officers he had no ticket, and only enough money to survive after getting released from jail.

He had been banned since August 2017 from Riverlink but was found in a smoking area there on March 13.

Sgt Caldwell said when he was arrested, Richards claimed he was only passing through to a friend's house but was looking for dumpsters.

Then at 2.30pm, on March 14, he was again charged with fare evasion after being intercepted on a train heading to Ipswich.

Then at 10.15am, on March 21, Richards was found loitering in a Riverlink carpark. Sgt Caldwell said he'd climbed down into a storage room and spent the night sleeping there but exited at 6.15am.

Police found a bag inside the room with a bail undertaking issued to Richards. CCTV from the shopping centre also identified him.

Magistrate David Shepherd said the 18 days already spent in custody was appropriate punishment. Richards was sentenced to 18 days' jail, with the time served declared, and immediately released.