A THIEF with a record of more than 100 offences for dishonesty has been sentenced to jail after snatching meat, razor blades and deodorant.

Christopher Frederick Webster, 33, today (September 15) admitted stealing razors and deodorant worth £85 from Wilkinsons, in Darlington, on August 18 and then £9 worth of meat items from the town's Iceland store on August 31.

Newton Aycliffe Magistrates heard on the first occasion the defendant, of St George's Hall, Elmfield Terrace, Darlington, was serving a conditional discharge and on the second occasion was subject to a suspended sentence.

Steven Andrews, mitigating, said while Webster had an "unenviable" history of 139 convictions it revolved around drug addiction which he was receiving help for.

He added that the time of the offences coincided with the defendant's parents' deaths which led him to turn to drugs and then steal to pay off what he owed.

Webster's 12-week sentence was activated with a further two weeks to run consecutively for shop theft on August 31, and no separate penalty for the second charge.

He was also ordered to pay £9 compensation to Iceland.