Grand Chancellor, QV Building business burglaries lands serial offender in jail

Brodie Joseph Miller, 25, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to multiple counts of burglary, stealing, attempted burglary and motor vehicle stealing and was sentenced in the Launceston Magistrates Court on Tuesday.

The court heard he was serving a drug treatment order when he targeted a number of businesses in the QV Building on High Street in East Launceston on August 30.

Miller then carried out burglaries and stealing offences on several tenancies in Hotel Grand Chancellor's business complex on September 3.

Items stolen included electrical equipment, cash, phones and computers.

Miller was arrested and charged on September 7.

He was also sentenced in relation to stealing $460 worth of items on February 20, before he returned to the same premises more than four months later to use a set of keys to steal a vehicle.

Miller was placed on a drug treatment order on July 31 with a four-month suspended prison sentence in relation to other offences, but "consistently returned positive drug tests" and failed to engage with support agencies. He also "dropped out" of residential detox services.

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Magistrate Simon Brown chose not to place him on another drug treatment order and activated the suspended sentence.

"I'm no way satisfied the defendant would continue to even engage with the relevant authorities or support organisations if the order did continue," he said.

Miller had a "poor" criminal record including dishonesty and violence offences, which Mr Brown said appeared to be escalating.

"[This is] a continuation in the offending which occurred prior to the making of the drug treatment order," he said.

"[It] represents a significant amount of new offending."

The four-month prison sentence was activated, and a further six months was added for the new offending. Miller was jailed for 10 months with a seven-month non-parole period.