Vernon’s been at it again

A career criminal who once tried to blackmail a famous actress over nude photos found on a stolen laptop has walked free from court after admitting 13 burglaries.

Vernon Fevrier, 43, was jailed for two years in 2012 after he and brother Lee broke into the offices of a solicitor’s firm in London and stole a computer containing intimate snaps.

Before deciding to blackmail the unnamed actress, the pair had attempted to sell the 50 paparazzi photos to national newspapers and gossip magazines.

They were arrested after demanding a £4,000 ‘reward’ for the safe return of the intimate snaps from the star, whose identity was protected by the court.

Fevrier was jailed for 21 months in 2014 for stealing nearly £15,000 in casino chips, laptops, mobile phones, and pens from an office complex in Grosvenor Gardens, west London.

The grandfather returned to Southwark Crown Court after he admitted 13 burglaries during 2020 and 2021.

The career criminal broke into empty office buildings in London and Essex to steal computers and other equipment worth over £10,000.

‘Mr Fevrier has spent over half of his life in prison. He served 12 periods of time in his life in prison,’ said Liam Edwards defending.

‘Mr Fevrier is now in his 40s. He has lived a fairly miserable existence.

‘He has had an extremely traumatic childhood.

‘He used cannabis from age 11…and crack cocaine at the age of 14. He has struggled with addiction his entire life and he has never had any form of treatment for that.

‘He is standing here today…asking for an opportunity and a chance which has not been explored before.

‘He wanted to convey his feeling that ‘enough’s enough’.

Judge Martin Griffith told Fevrier: ‘You are a 43-year old man…. Who has a truly shocking record of previous convictions.

‘When I look at your record of offending it strikes me that…in the past you haven’t asked for any help.

‘It’s about time that we try something different to deal with what you’ve been doing and what you’ve admitted.

‘You identified targets… in the hope that you’d hit a bit of gold.

‘You’ve said that if there’s drugs involved, you aren’t able to say no. Let me tell you, if someone called Fevrier comes into my court room again I won’t be able to say no to a tougher sentence.’

Fevrier, of no fixed address, admitted 13 charges of burglary.

He was sentenced to two years imprisonment, suspended for two years, subject to a daily 10pm curfew and attending a 12-month drug rehabilitation programme.