A PRISONER found himself back in court yesterday, after being sentenced to a period in jail only last Friday.

Ian Maitland, 25, of Alexander Terrace, Wheatley Hill, County Durham, pleaded guilty to two charges of taking petrol without paying and one of failing to surrender to custody.

South Durham Magistrates' Court, sitting in Newton Aycliffe, heard that Maitland, with two others, took fuel from petrol stations in Great Lumley and Spennymoor, totalling more than £300.

Ciaran Grogan, prosecuting, said that Maitland is currently serving a two-month prison sentence, imposed on him at Peterlee Magistrates' Court last Friday.

The defendant had also been due to appear at Durham City Police Station yesterday, having been arrested for the alleged theft of his mother's vacuum cleaner.

Neil Hodgson, defending, said that many of Maitland's offences were drug related, to feed the habits of both himself and others.

He said: "His sister is involved, his brother is involved and so is his girlfriend.

"It is all to do with heroin and drugs in the Wheatley Hill area."

For the three charges heard yesterday, magistrates sentenced Maitland to one month's imprisonment for each offence.

The sentences will run concurrently.