Long-time prolific offender Cole Amey will remain in custody after his bail was revoked in provincial court on Nov. 5.
Amey faces 11 charges from April, including possession of stolen property over $5,000, possession of break-in instrument, careless use or storage of a firearm, and eight other firearms charges.
In May he was released on bail under strict conditions, including he abstain from drug use, electronic monitoring, and that he reside with his mother at a house on Princess Avenue. He is banned from life for possessing firearms.
On July 5, the house he was ordered to be living in was raided by police, according to neighbours and the house’s owner who tells The Progress that it was being used as a drug lab.
The details of the bail hearing cannot be reported due to a publication ban on the evidence given or the reasons provided by the judge. But bail is only revoked in some of the most serious cases as the courts are now adhering to a Supreme Court of Canada decision from March of this year.
In that 9-0 decision, the high court said that release should be “at the earliest opportunity and in the least onerous manner.”
“Pre-trial detention is the exception, not the rule,” Chief Justice Richard Wagner wrote in the decision.
Amey has an extensive criminal record for theft, weapons and violence in the Fraser Valley. He has more than 50 criminal convictions as an adult, nearly half for breaching court-ordered conditions.
Last February a Canada-wide warrant was issued for his arrest after he failed to return to a Surrey halfway house as required.
• READ MORE: Chilliwack prolific offender wanted on Canada-wide warrant
@PeeJayAitch
paul.henderson@theprogress.com
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