Darren Tomkiss jailed after returning to banned Bodmin shops

A shop ban only works if the person named in it stays out. Darren Tomkiss decided his did not apply to him, and now he has 15 months in prison to reconsider.

Caught in the shops he was told to avoid

Darren Tomkiss, 47, will spend 15 months behind bars after being caught inside stores he had been banned from entering.

On 9 July, Darren pleaded guilty to eight counts of theft, seven breaches of his criminal behaviour order (CBO), common assault, and making off without payment.

He had been handed a three-year CBO in September 2025, one condition of which kept him out of shops he had already been formally banned from. Between 23 January and 3 February 2026 he walked into Spar, Boots, Asda and Sainsbury’s anyway, taking more than £590 worth of goods.

What the order actually bans

The CBO runs until September 2028. It stops Darren from entering or loitering outside any store he has been formally banned from that belongs to the Bodmin Shopwatch scheme. It keeps him out of designated areas of the town marked on a map attached to the order, unless he has a pre-arranged professional appointment and the written consent of whoever is running it. And it means he has to leave any commercial or private premises the moment an owner, staff member or police officer asks him to.

(The map of the restricted areas was referenced in the police release but not included, so the exact boundaries are not published here.)

Breaching any condition of a CBO is a criminal offence that can carry a custodial sentence. In this case, it did.

According to Bodmin Police, officers intend to keep working with the community and partner organisations to make sure Darren sticks to the conditions once he is released.