CELEBRATING his birthday with half a bottle of Smirnoff vodka and a packet of legal-high Spice, a man then tried to steal some DVDs from a town centre supermarket.

But Joseph McLaughlin was spotted by security staff at the Tesco on The Parade as he tried to leave with the two DVDs concealed under his coat on March 29 – the day he turned 27.

In interview, he described himself as being “smashed” having mixed the alcohol with the so-called legal high which led him to black out. He admitted he had taken the DVDs intending to sell them on for cash.

Defending McLaughlin, who lives on Cloudberry Road in Haydon Wick, Mark Glendenning quoted to the magistrates what his client had said after his arrest: “’I’m a swearword idiot’ – which pretty much sums up this matter,” he said.

“He had drunk the best part of a bottle of vodka, wandered into Tesco and admitted he didn’t know what he was going to do with the DVDs.

“He has previously battled with alcohol and would describe himself as an alcoholic, it is a lot less frequent than it used to be and nowhere near as much and he is no longer reliant on alcohol.”

Sentencing him, the magistrates ordered that he pay a fine of £70, which was reduced from 90 due to his guilty plea, along with a £20 victim surcharge and £20 court costs.