WORRIED mum Mandy Gavin, whose son is facing his sixth consecutive Christmas behind bars, today pleaded for help to get him back on the straight and narrow. She claimed he had a behaviour problem and had been let down by the system.

By Richard Cornwell

WORRIED mum Mandy Gavin, whose son is facing his sixth consecutive Christmas behind bars, today pleaded for help to get him back on the straight and narrow.

She claimed her son Jamie Arnold, 20, had been let down by "the system" – leaving him caught in a vicious circle of being released, offending and going back to jail.

Violent thug Arnold is serving four months in a young offenders' institution for threatening behaviour towards a barmaid. He has totted up more than 60 offences in the past six years for assaults, thefts and robberies.

But Ms Gavin said her son had a behavioural problem.

"I don't accept his behaviour – I quite understand how people feel about it – but I feel the

system has let him down," she said.

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