Aggressive beggar who approached women and children is jailed after breaching order 20 times

An aggressive beggar in Cambridge who was given a chance to mend his ways has been jailed after he continued to break the law.

Jason Allum, 36, of Edgecombe, King’s Hedges, Cambridge, was given a 28-day suspended sentence by Peterborough Magistrates’ Court on March 13 for breaching an interim criminal behaviour order (CBO).

But within hours, Allum was seen begging in the city centre.

The CBO, forbidding him from begging in Cambridge city centre, had been imposed on March 2.

He breached the CBO 20 times between March 13 and 31 by asking people for money, including placing his hands on people, approaching women and children and shouting and swearing.

He also begged inside The Grafton centre and Grand Arcade, where he approached customers sitting in a coffee shop, while shouting and swearing.

Customers and staff at the Burleigh Arms pub, in Newmarket Road, were also intimidated by Allum’s aggressive begging numerous times. He shouted and swore at them when they did not give him money.

Allum was also spotted on CCTV going to an ATM with a woman who then gave him money, and then walking behind a lone woman.

On Tuesday, April 4, at Cambridge Magistrates’ Court, Allum, of Edgecombe, King’s Hedges, Cambridge, was sentenced to seven months in prison, having pleaded guilty to 20 breaches of an interim CBO.

PC Laura O’Flynn said: “Jason Allum has caused significant issues for a great number of people across the city and we worked really hard with the Crown Prosecution Service to get this CBO.

“We recognise the harm his behaviour has on the community, in particularly women and girls’ sense of safety.

“We will continue to enforce the conditions of the CBO but would ask the public to come forward and report breaches to us so we can investigate and take prompt action.”

The conditions of Allum’s CBO mean that he must not:

Request or accept any money from any member of the public in Cambridgeshire, except in a lawful transaction;

Act in an anti-social or disorderly manner, that is to say a manner that causes or is likely to cause nuisance, disruption, harassment, alarm or distress to any person in the exclusion zone; or

Enter the exclusion zone as bounded by East Road, Newmarket Road, Maids Causeway, Jesus Lane, Park Street, New Park Street, The River Cam, Bridge Street, Magdalene Street, Northampton Street, Queens Road, Newnham Road, The Fen Causeway, Trumpington Road, Lensfield Road, and Gonville Place.

Any breaches should be reported to police with Allum’s name.