A SHOPLIFTER has been spared prison so he can get help for his drug problem - and give store bosses a break.

Richard Harrison was told he deserved to go to jail for a crime spree days after getting a suspended sentence.

But a "merciful" judge at Teesside Crown Court told the 37-year-old: "I'm giving you a once-in-a-lifetime chance."

Harrison received a one-month jail sentence, but because of the time he has spent on remand, he walked free.

Recorder Eric Elliott, QC, told him: "I'm going to take what many people will regard as a merciful decision.

"It is in the hope, the very last hope of the court, of you managing to kick your habit and get on the right road.

"If you commit any more offences, we will meet again and my promise to you is that I will send you to prison."

The court heard how Harrison got a suspended jail sentence on January 9 after being caught with heroin worth £2,650.

He was seen at the railway station in Thornaby, near Stockton, "sweaty and unkempt" and had just injected himself.

Prosecutor Jenny Haigh told the court that on January 21 he went on a shoplifting spree in Seaham, County Durham.

He stole beauty products worth £142 from Boots and four joints of beef from a nearby Aldi supermarket ten minutes later.

After being arrested and appearing before magistrates - where he was given bail - he was back at Aldi the next day.

Harrison, of Long Newton Street, Seaham, was stopped as he tried to steal four joints of brisket worth £44.

Ian Hudson, mitigating, said: "He will engage. He has promised to engage. If he doesn't it's a revolving door."

Harrison admitted two charges of theft, one of attempted theft and breaching a suspended prison sentence.