A BAG-SNATCHER jailed for three years in 2003 was back behind bars last night after carrying out a similar offence to help to fund his drug habit.

Gary Appleby, now 23, was given the three-year sentence at Durham Crown Court in November 2003 for robbing a woman of her bag on the doorstep of a house two months earlier.

Appleby, of Conyers Crescent, Horden, east Durham, was back in court yesterday for sentence after admitting two theft charges at a previous hearing.

David Crook, prosecuting, said one was the snatch of a handbag from a woman waiting for a bus at a shelter in Peterlee town centre, in June, only weeks after his release on licence from the previous sentence.

No force was used, so the charge was theft, raaather than robbery.

Mr Crook said the bag was recovered, minus about £100 in cash.

Appleby was arrested after being spotted on closed-circuit TV taking toiletries worth £35 from a Bells Store in Peterlee, two days later.

Ann Haugstad, mitigating, said Appleby has spent ten years on a cycle of drug-taking, crime and custody, remaining drug-free only when behind bars, but then lapsing back to his former ways on release.

She said he is starting to show signs of maturity and is awaiting the birth of his first child to his girlfriend.

But Recorder Ian Atherton said Appleby has, "a quite appalling record" for his age.

He ordered him to serve the outstanding 477-days of his previous three-year sentence for the 2003 robbery, and then begin a 12-month sentence for the latest thefts.