A JUDGE who originally spared a prolific teenage thief jail will now sentence him for a further offence.

The case of Bradley Wernham hit the headlines after Judge Christopher Ball QC spared him jail at Chelmsford Crown Court last October, after he had admitted a six-year, £1million plus, crime spree which involved more than 600 offences.

He was given 150 hours unpaid work and the judge told him: “This is a unique solution. We’re holding our breaths.”

Chelmsford MP Simon Burns wrote to the then Minister of Justice criticising what he described as “a lenient sentence”.

However, a judge at Chelmsford ruled on Monday Wernham, 18, of Redmayne Drive, Chelmsford, should now be sent back before Judge Ball to be sentenced over an incident in which he threw a brick through a window in Witham.

Wernham originally admitted attempted burglary, but had asked Judge Charles Gratwicke to reduce the charge to one of criminal damage and to change his plea to not guilty.

However, the judge refused both applications and ordered Wernham should appear before Judge Ball to be sentenced. No date has yet been fixed.

Judge Gratwicke was told Wernham had misunderstood the discussion which led to him pleading guilty to the latest offence, but the judge said: “He was no stranger to the courts.”

He added that as Wernham, who was re-housed in Chelmsford from Harlow, had gone into a back garden and thrown the brick from two feet, in “preparation” for a burglary.

Ian Boyes, counsel for Wernham, said he would be raising with Judge Ball during the sentencing about “surveillance of Mr Wernham” which was said to have followed the controversial decision not to put him behind bars.

The application followed a plea of guilty, on April 6, to attempted burglary in Witham on January 5.

A further charge of criminal damage to a window pane, worth £100, on the same occasion was ordered to lie on the file.

Requesting a pre-sentence report, Wernham’s counsel told the judge: “Certain activities which were supposed to have occurred didn’t and he was followed by police.

“Police in Chelmsford were meant to visit him twice a week and police at Harlow were meant to have taken him under their wing, but they were warned off because he had moved to Chelmsford.

“He knew he was being followed by police and flipped and gave them what they wanted. After a media and political focus, he found it difficult.”