A man with three times as many offences on his rap sheet as candles on his birthday cake has three months to prove to a judge he’s a changed man.

Lee Mapstone, 23, was behind bars at HMP Bullingdon, near Bicester, in February when he was caught with a contraband mobile phone.

When prison officers knocked on his cell door on February 9 after a mobile phone signal had been detected, Mapstone candidly accepted using the device and pointed out where it could be found.

He had used the L8STAR mini phone to contact his girlfriend and family members after the tragic death of a close friend, the court heard.

READ MORE: Watch the shocking moment lightning strikes Oxfordshire home

Mapstone, formerly of Willows Avenue, Swindon, pleaded guilty at the magistrates’ court in August to possession of the prohibited phone.

He had more than 40 convictions on his record for 85 offences, the court heard.

Judge Nigel Daly let out a sigh as he began his sentencing remarks.

“23. 85 offences," he said.  

"I’ve read the [probation] report that has been prepared on your behalf and it says that they don’t think they can do anything with you.

“If that were the case I would have no real alternative but to send you back to prison and for possession of a mobile telephone in prison - albeit not a smartphone, albeit a small one, I accept it was to contact your family – it would still carry a custodial sentence, taking into account your guilty plea, of about eight months imprisonment.

“As I say, I’m very disturbed by the number of offences you have committed when you are still a very young man and, as a very young man, you are still going through maturity, which will, I hope, come.

“I think you appreciate that you can’t go on like this, because your sentences are going to get longer and longer and you’ll finish up spending most of your life in prison.

“At the age of 23 that’s not much to look forward to.”

He deferred sentencing for three months, imposing conditions that Mapstone live with his mother in Weston-super-Mare, commit no further offences and do what he can to get work.

READ MORE: Village pub saved after intervention from Hollywood star

Oxford Mail: Click here to sign up to the Crime and Court newsletter Click here to sign up to the Crime and Court newsletter (Image: Newsquest)

Mitigating, George Joseph said he had first met the defendant some six years ago when he was working as an usher at Swindon Magistrates’ Court before being called to the Bar.

There was a ‘stark difference’ between the youth he knew then and the man in the dock on Monday. His client hoped to work as a groundsman, it was said.

Mapstone will return to court in December to be sentenced.