Jail for thief with 272 convictions

Paul Jackson - whose record was described as appalling by his own barrister - was yesterday sentenced for 22 thefts.

Among the offences the 31-year-old career criminal and drug-user committed was a stealing cash from a security van which had just collected from a post office.

Teesside Crown Court heard that when Jackson was arrested, he confessed to a series of other crimes police had never linked him to.

Duncan McReddie, mitigating, said: "He wants to put this behaviour - his offending, his entrenched addiction - behind him.

"The most important step in the process of rehabilitation is when a criminal and addict recognises the need for drastic action to take the first step.

"Paul Jackson recognises that, and he accepts he has a horrendous record and he wants to come out, after his sentence, drug-free."

Mr McReddie added: "Were it not for the admissions he made, his involvement in some of the matters would not have been certain."

The court was told that Jackson began his most recent crime spree last summer, when he stole polo shirts and a baseball bat from a sports shop and clothing from another store, in Middlesbrough town centre, on July 17.

The following day, he was the get-away driver for a man who snatched £500 from a security van at the post office in Norfolk Place, Berwick Hills.

On September 19, Jackson stole a mobile phone and satellite navigation set from an articulated truck making a delivery to a Burger King restaurant.

Twice more in September, and then three times this April, he stole from cars in various parts of Middlesbrough and sold the goods to get cash for drugs.

Jackson, of Ampleforth Road, Middlesbrough, admitted nine thefts and asked for a further 13 - all but two of which were thefts from vehicles - to be taken into consideration.

The crimes he asked to be taken into account were committed in less than a week, in Middlesbrough, including in The James Cook University Hospital's car park.