A grieving father who committed burglaries while turning to the drug ice to cope with the death of his son has failed in an appeal to overturn his jail sentence.
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Dean Cromb was last month sentenced to six months in jail for offences including burglary, theft and possessing an imitation handgun.
He was seen on CCTV rummaging through a shipping container at a Wodonga engineering company, then returning the next day - wearing gloves and a hooded jumper - to steal expensive items including welders worth $23,000 and $18,000.
Judge Greg Lyon told Wodonga County Court this week that Cromb showed audacity in returning to the location a second time, and the burglaries could have made it hard for the business to do its work.
Police found a total of 214 kilograms of pork legs and 5.5 kilograms of beef at Cromb's Wodonga home, in both the house and a car with stolen number plates in the driveway.
The meat had been stolen from Griffin Transport in Albury and police also found energy drinks which had been stolen from O'Brien Transport in Albury.
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Judge Lyon said it was "an extraordinary amount of stolen meat".
"I can only assume those goods were for the purpose of selling or allowing to spoil," he said.
The imitation handgun was found in a sports bag and had belonged to Cromb's three-year-old grandson.
His defence barrister Alan Marshall said his client committed the burglaries to get money for drugs, used to cope with the trauma of that event.
"Lots of truck drivers do take illegal substances, that gave him an early taste of methamphetamine," he said.
"It was when Shaun died that it really escalated ... In recent years, the drugs appear to have taken over."
Cromb has since started grief counselling.
Mr Marshall argued Cromb should be released from jail and placed on a community corrections order so he could continue his treatment.
But Judge Lyon refused the application, saying the burglaries were serious offences.
