A DRUG addict who threatened to stab a security guard with a needle when he tried to stop him shoplifting has been jailed.

Neil Bambrick was on early release from prison for a house burglary when he went stealing from TK Maxx last month.

But because the 34-year-old has been recalled to prison the ten week sentence a judge imposed will only mean he spends about three weeks longer inside.

Bambrick was spotted helping himself to clothing in the discount designer store on Great Western Way on the afternoon of Sunday, July 23.

Hannah Squire, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court he also took a suitcase to load with about £400 worth of products.

As he was leaving a security guard who had seen what he was up to moved in to detain him, but the defendant became abusive.

"He said to him 'Get off me of I'll stab you,' and 'Give me my bag back: I have got a needle and I'll stick you'," she said.

"Fortunately the security guard is made of sterner stuff and he chased him and caught him."

Bambrick, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to one count of theft. The court heard he had been accused of burglary but prosecutors withdrew that charge.

It had been alleged that he broke into a house on Ermin Street earlier in the day and had he been convicted he would have faced a mandatory three-year sentence.

The court heard he had a lengthy record, getting 28 months for burglary in February last year.

That offence took place on Christmas Eve when he was grabbed by the occupants as he climbed into their sheltered accommodation flat as they slept on Christmas Eve.

Richard Williams, defending, said his client had been recalled to prison to serve another 28 days of the earlier sentence, meaning he is due for release on August 29.

He said he had been a drug addict since he was 12 but prior to the burglary in December 2015 he had been clean for five years.

When he was released from prison at the end of February this year he came out with no support and being homeless fell in with drug users.

He said that when he is released again later this year he is determined to abstain from illicit substances and has plans in place for accommodation.

Passing sentence Recorder Jason Taylor said: "You were facing a far more serious charge of burglary.

"That has now been withdrawn and you now face a single charge of shoplifting which you pleaded to.

"You, from you record, are a serial shoplifter: 28 sentences for 91 offences, 51 of which those being offences of dishonesty.

"You have received the full range of penalties open to the court. This was particularly unpleasant shoplifting because of the abuse and threats to the security guard.

"I sentence you on the basis that you did threaten to stab him with a needle. You have been recalled: the sentence I am going to pass will affect that release date but it will only extend it for about three weeks."