A SELF-EMPLOYED builder whose work had dried up before Christmas stole a trolley-load of goods from a Swindon supermarket, the town’s magistrates heard yesterday.

Paul Briggs, 31, of Akers Way, stole items worth £308.01 from Asda Walmart at the Orbital Retail Park on December 17 last year.

He appeared before magistrates in Swindon and admitted the theft from Asda as well as a separate charge of drink-driving.

He also admitted driving a car without a licence and driving without insurance.

Nick Barr, prosecuting, told the court that Briggs was seen by Asda security staff leaving the store with the trolley loaded with items.

The staff followed Briggs to his car where he was seen to load the items into the boot of his car.

When asked by the staff for a receipt he could not produce one.

The police were called and when questioning Briggs smelled alcohol on his breath.

A breath test recorded a level of 49 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35mcg.

Harriet Heard, defending, told the court that Briggs had been at a Christmas party earlier that day. He borrowed his girlfriend’s car, although he only had a provisional licence.

Ms Heard said his intention had been to buy some essentials but, once at the store, he felt the pressure of Christmas and decided to put many more items in the trolley, even though he knew he did not have the money to pay for them.

Ms Heard said that work had dried up for him before Christmas and he had been out of work for a couple of weeks.

“There was no prior planning to this theft. It was completely unsophisticated,” Ms Heard told the court.

Briggs was ordered to do 60 hours of work in the community for the theft and was disqualified from driving for 14 months for drink-driving and driving without a licence.

He was also fined £520 and ordered to pay court costs of £85 and a victim surcharge of £60.

The court issued no separate penalty for driving without insurance.