James Hanley: More jail for 5g a day ice-addicted burglar, car thief

This career crook monster meth-head should have known better - the last time he went on a crime spree he ended up shot by police.

James Hanley has been jailed again for another drug-fuelled crime spree.

A 5g a day ice abuser who burgled houses, stole cars, nicked cash and bank cards and ripped off shops to feed his raging addiction has been jailed again.

James Hanley has a terrible drug-related criminal history and had not been out of prison long after serving a stretch for similar offending which ended with him being shot by police.

The Capel Sound 25-year-old pleaded guilty to another 23 theft-related, drugs, weapons and bail breach charges at the Frankston Magistrates’ Court on Monday.

The court heard a foolish Hanley was found passed out in the driver’s seat of a parked car in Rosebud on April 1 last year.

Officers’ attention had been piqued because the engine was left running and the indicator was on, but no-one seemed to be at the wheel.

They discovered Hanley slumped inside the vehicle in a badly-drug affected state.

A search of the car revealed a smorgasbord of substances including ice, GHB, cannabis, ecstasy and pills.

There were also stolen bank cards, digital scales, ice smoking pipes, three mobile phones, more than $2200 in cash and a hunting knife.

He was remanded in custody and got out on bail at the end of July, but soon returned to crime.

On December 15 he stole keys after committing an aggravated burglary in Sorrento, also taking a backpack and a wallet containing bank cards.

The cards were then fraudulently used to buy clothing and other items at stores in the Bayside Shopping Centre in Frankston.

But somewhat bizarrely Hanley used his own loyalty cards to get extras points, and combined with CCTV, wasn’t hard to identify.

The next day he nicked a car from Mt Eliza, using it to drive around to commit even more crimes.

He nicked cash and a purse from a Jeep in Capel Sound and tried to break into two more vehicles.

He then broke into a Capel Sound house, kicking in a door to gain access, before the homeowner got an online notification that someone was in their property.

The victim’s dad turned up and blocked Hanley’s stolen vehicle, but it was rammed out of the way before he later dumped the car and fled on foot.

He then nicked another vehicle on December 23, using that to steal power tools from McCrae and food, drink and cigarettes from servos around the Peninsula.

His luck ran out on Christmas Day after police saw the stolen car near his home in Capel Sound, and with the help of the police air wing and canine unit, he was arrested and remanded once again.

His defence lawyer said his client had longstanding substance abuse issues and was using up to 5g of ice a day at the height of his crimes as a “form of self-sabotage”.

He said he “tried to get as much ice as he could” and stole to pay for it in an attempt to self-medicate his PTSD and anxiety issues.

Magistrate Julian Ayres said over the past four years Hanley had been given 21 months in jail and breached three corrections orders.

He said this offending was aggravated by the fact he was on bail for a majority of these charges.

“There have been concerns over his drug usage for many years,” Mr Ayres said.

“(These crimes) are squarely linked to his addictions.”

Hanley was jailed for 18 months minus 251 days he has already served, with a non-parole period of nine months.

He was also banned from driving for 12 months.