A homeless man with nearly 50 convictions against his name in the last decade has been jailed for three years.

Eugene (Jinx) Darrell (pictured) was sentenced at Supreme Court on Monday after he was caught stealing $7 in coins from the offices of a Hamilton insurance company.

But the lack of a secure site in Bermuda offering specific treatment for criminals with mental health problems, like Darrell, was highlighted during the hearing.

The court heard the defendant, with three decades of mainly petty offending behind him, suffered serious mental health and substance abuse problems.

Chief Justice Richard Ground said the case posed ?very real? difficulties for the court, and suggested his sentencing powers were restricted due to the lack of a secure psychiatric institution for offenders. He accepted that Darrell, 48, needed help but said he was ?limited? in what assistance the legal system could offer.

Mr. Justice Ground added: ?There?s no secure mental institution separate from prison at which I can remand Mr. Darrell for any length of time.

?Against that, I believe that the improving regime at prison will in coming months and years offer him a certain degree of help.

?He can certainly get a level of psychological treatment there. He will get to take his medication there. He will be assisted with his substance abuse problems there and will undergo a forced period of abstinence that will be beneficial for him.?

Crown counsel Cindy Clarke earlier told the court that a worker at the insurance firm heard Darrell walking around the reception area and rooting through drawers at Allegro Insurance and Risk Management on Burnaby Street.

When a worker asked what he was doing in the building at 8.40 p.m., the defendant said he was looking for someone. He was ordered to leave. Two days later, the homeless man was spotted on a staircase in the same office block. The defendant exited through the front door and $7 was later found to be missing from a staff desk drawer. The defendant was later picked out by staff at an identification parade.

Miss Clarke said that Darrell had a long list of previous convictions, starting in 1975 and running to last September. She added that this included 46 in the last ten years, ten of which for breaking and entering. There has been no significant gap of non offending in the last decade, the court heard, and the offences were generally for breaking, begging and trespass. Miss Clarke, calling for a sentence of between two and four years, said psychological treatment should be carried out at Westgate Correctional Facility. Defence lawyer Rick Woolridge said that his client had been ?banged up time and time again since 1975?, although his longest stretch in jail was one year.

He added: ?Prison has been the only option that this progressive society has offered to him.

?If you jail him for a period that?s greater than 12 months, followed by probation, what good have you really done not only Mr. Darrell but society at large?

?He will only be subjected to, at best, a once a week interview with the prison psychiatrist at Westgate.? Calling for an adjournment for further reports, Mr. Woolridge said a stricter probation regime would be more suitable for his client and said this had to be more than just giving his client ? who broke his last probation order ? an appointment.

?Asking Jinx Darrell to make an appointment at 9 a.m. on a Monday is not the best route for him,? added Mr. Woolridge, who said jail was not helping make his client a productive member of society. ?That means nothing to him.?

But Mr. Justice Ground said that it was likely the defendant would breach such an order if imposed again. He said that he did not anticipate Darrell being sent to jail again if he broke the new probation order, and said this might mean probation officers had to ?go and get him?.

Mr. Justice Ground sentenced Darrell to three years in jail with ongoing mental health and drug abuse care, followed by a two-year probation order. No conditions were attached to this order as the court heard the defendant would probably break them.

Darrell, of no fixed address and who the court heard has been homeless for 17 years, admitted breaking and entering on January 31 with intent to steal. He also admitted breaking and entering and stealing $7 on February 2. After the case, Mr. Woolridge said the hearing exposed the gap in provision in Bermuda for offenders with mental health problems. ?At the moment, there?s Westgate or the Mid-Atlantic Wellness Institute,? he said. ?That can?t be right.?