SERIAL shoplifter Andrew Jee has been given a "very last chance" to change his ways.

Yesterday, Harrogate magistrates heard how Jee, 30, had travelled to Harrogate from his home in Leeds on Sunday, loaded nine jars of coffee and eight packs of ham into a rucksack in the Co-op store in Leeds Road and walked out.

He pleaded guilty to theft and the court heard how he had 18 shoplifting convictions and was on bail to Leeds magistrates for a similar offence.

Jee, of Church Road, Armley, Leeds, told police he stole so he could buy drugs.

His solicitor, Kate Rayfield, said heroin addiction had led to deep vein thrombosis in both his legs, and to a collapsed lung, pneumonia and a blood virus.

Periods in Leeds General Infirmary meant an 18-month probation order imposed in September to help Jee quit drugs had barely started.

Miss Rayfield said Jee was not going to stop offending until he got help with his heroin abuse. She persuaded the court to defer sentence for two months, to give the probation service the chance to help Jee.

Bailing him until September 15, presiding magistrate Pauline Ward told him the Leeds offence would also be considered then.

She said: "We have grave concerns about deferring as your record is not good.

"We are nervous, to say the least, about giving you another chance.You really do have to start taking responsibility. It is down to you, no-one else can do it."