FACING eight charges of theft a man has been urged to make the most of help to tackle his drug addiction after he narrowly avoided being sent to jail.

Ashley Lane of Derby Court pleaded guilty to eight charges of theft and one of breaching his community order imposed in May when he came before magistrates sitting in Swindon on Wednesday.

The court heard that on March 21 the 29-year-old had stolen £314-worth of champagne from Sainsbury’s, a further 12 bottles on April 2 also from Sainsbury’s and a further three on the same day from Sainsbury’s.

Two days later he stole £150-worth of cheese and bacon from One Stop and a trolley full of items from Morrisons on April 8. On April 14 he stole two Vax vacuums and two CCTV monitoring systems from B&Q valued at £41. On June 7 he stole goods from the Co-Op valued at £69.30 and two days later he stole two lady spas and a number of other accessories valued at £640 from Homebase.

Prosecutor Vyvyan Thatcher said that the majority of the thefts involved another individual who had already been dealt with in the court system.

Defending him, Emma Hanslip told the court that her client had been released from prison and had been effectively made homeless. He had not gone stealing to fund his habit, although he was using drugs again, but rather to pay a debt.

Chairman of the bench Paul Gane told him: “It is disappointing that you have breached your existing order, but we are going to deal with this by sending you to prison for a total of 12 weeks. However this sentence will be suspended on the condition that you do not commit any other offence in the next 18 months. And that you comply with the requirements of the community order.”

He now faces a 12 month community order with a drug rehabilitation order and 30 rehabilitative days. He must also pay £307 in compensation, which amounts to half of the total requested in light of the con-defendant, court costs of £85, a victim surcharge of £115 and a £40 fine for breaching his community order.