A SHOPLIFTER is facing a spell behind bars after stealing from a Swindon supermarket just days after being handed a suspended sentence.

Conway Sims, of Culvery Court, Harding Street, pleaded guilty to one count of theft when he appeared before magistrates in Swindon.

The 21-year-old was seen putting a bottle of Disaronno under his jacket by security staff from Morrisons in Regent Circus.

He made no attempt to pay and was stopped as he tried to leave the store.

That incident happened on November 3, just 12 days after a judge sitting at Cardiff Crown Court had given him a final chance following a conviction for attempted robbery.

The bench of three Swindon magistrates faced a choice – to sentence Sims for the shoplifting offence themselves, or to send him back to Cardiff to face the same crown court judge knowing that an activation of the suspended sentence was a possibility.

Gordon Hotson, defending Sims, told the court that his client had been encouraged to steal the alcohol by a group he met outside a town centre pub.

He described Sims as “more vulnerable than most” and suggested that he had learning difficulties which left him open to being taken advantage of.

Mr Hotson encouraged the magistrates to deal with the offence by way of a financial penalty or a discharge of some kind.

However, after hearing how short the period had been between the issuing of the suspended sentence and the next offence, the magistrates decided against.

Chairman of the bench Martin Clarke told Sims he would be sent back to the crown court.

“When another offence is committed so close to the imposition of a suspended sentence order, we have to ask questions,” he said.

“The bench feels that the imposition of a suspended sentence and then the committing of a further offence so soon after must go back to the crown court to be looked at again.”

Sims will return to Cardiff at a future date to be fixed by the court there.