A “TERRIBLE” youngster is back in a detention centre after turning up to court - 21 months late.

Joshua Mansbridge was given a nine-month sentence at Southampton Crown Court for breaching two suspended sentences, failing to surrender to custody and theft.

But the father-of-two didn’t show in court after a summons was issued back in February last year, and a month later, Mansbridge again didn’t show, failing to surrender to custody.

Both followed another suspended sentence issued in August of 2015, when the youngster was told he had one last chance to turn his life around after stealing more than £2,000 from his own mother.

Southampton Crown Court heard that Mansbridge attempted to steal items from an unlocked van just two months later.

The van was left parked on a street and left unlocked, and although nothing was taken, police were called after it became clear to the owner that items had been ‘tampered with’.

Mansbridge’s fingerprint was found at the scene.

In July 2015, the 20-year-old had also stolen two outboard marine engines worth £150 from a building, before holding them and walking down the street.

A member of the public saw Mansbridge, 20, from Tatwin Crescent, Southampton, and called the police after thinking he looked suspicious.

Defending, Samuel Burrett said: “He has a terrible record of offending, and the theft is not planned, not organised, it’s very opportunistic.

" I realise that he should have been dealing with the court, but over the 18 months he has left Southampton for, he has not committed an offence, which when you look at his record, is a substantial period of time.”

Despite having stolen £2,000 from his mother in 2015, the barrister also said that Mansbridge had ‘managed to win round his family’s trust again’.

Judge Nicholas Rowland told Mansbridge, a labourer, that if he didn’t change his ways, that he would be ‘seeing a lot more of an adult prison’.

Judge Rowland said: “Last time I saw you two years ago I told you that you had one more chance to turn your life around otherwise I would be activating those two suspended sentences and I don’t think you could have complained.

“Although you should have been dealing with probation services in these 18 months you do seem to have turned around slightly. If you don’t, you will be seeing a lot of adult prison time in your young life.”