A CRIMINAL was told that his latest set of offences made an immediate spell of imprisonment ‘inevitable’.

Zack Miller has a history with the courts and justice system, having built up a criminal record described by magistrates as ‘horrendous’.

The 26-year-old was due to stand trial at Warrington Magistrates’ Court after being charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm, theft from a shop and theft of a pedal cycle.

However, the Orford man changed his pleas to guilty, with the court proceeding to sentence him.

Explaining the circumstances of the offending, Craig Welsby, of the CPS, told the court that the first offence occurred in Warrington on October 24 last year.

Miller assaulted a 14-year-old child, with the court hearing that this was ‘unprovoked, serious and for no reason’.

Then on May 10 this year, he stole a pedal cycle worth £3,200 in Warrington, before his final offence of stealing £75 worth of soap powder from a shop in the town on June 25.

Among his previous convictions is a six-week jail term imposed in April after the ‘professional criminal’ engaged in a ‘lengthy game of hide and seek’ with a police dog.

Cheshire Police was called to reports of suspicious activity on Thorneycroft Drive in Fairfield in March, with the caller reporting a man attempting to break into cars in the area.

Officers attended, supported by the police dog unit, and Miller man was arrested nearby after being found in possession of wire cutters and gloves to use for theft.

Before then, in October 2021, he received his sixth conviction of possessing a weapon after he was found to have a knuckleduster, for which he was jailed for eight months.

And in September 2020, he was handed 20 weeks behind bars after breaking into a shed and car, stealing a silver diamond earring and nail varnish.

For his latest offences, magistrates commented that they were too serious for anything other than an immediate stretch in custody, which was ‘inevitable’.

It was said that he has a ‘flagrant disregard for people and their property’ and a ‘horrendous record of both acquisitive and violent offending’.

Miller, of Howson Road in Orford, was sentenced to 48 weeks in prison.

No compensation was ordered for the theft offences, as the court heard there was ‘no reasonable prospect of any amount being paid’.

This was especially the case given compensation of £200 on the assault matter ‘took priority’.

In addition, magistrates approved a three-year restraining order prohibiting the defendant from approaching, contacting or communicating in any way with the assault victim.