TEENAGER Thomas Gillett was lucky not to be jailed for breaching his 80-hour community work order, Ely magistrates told him on Thursday. You were within a cat s whisker of going to prison today, said presiding magistrate Mary Rone, after hearing him adm

TEENAGER Thomas Gillett was lucky not to be jailed for breaching his 80-hour community work order, Ely magistrates told him on Thursday.

"You were within a cat's whisker of going to prison today," said presiding magistrate Mary Rone, after hearing him admit missing a work session on March 12.

The 19-year-old was already subject to a one-month suspended prison sentence which could have been activated. But the probation service dropped the allegation of breaching his work order when Gillett claimed he missed a second work session because his transport did not turn up.

Gillett, of Friars Place, Littleport, was given the suspended sentence last month because he breached a previous community order.

"He knows he is now walking on eggshells," said solicitor James Yardy.