A SERIAL shoplifter with 27 previous convictions has escaped punishment for his latest crime spree after a court heard his lifestyle was too "chaotic".

Jamie Warnes, 36, of Russell Walk, appeared at Swindon Magistrates' Court on Monday where he pleaded guilty to eight separate offences.

They included stealing £180 worth of electrical items from Boots on July 9, stealing a child's bike on July 1 and another theft, this time of groceries, from Co-Op in Sussex Place last Saturday.

Warnes pleaded guilty to all three thefts.

He also pleaded guilty to three other charges relating to drugs, namely crack cocaine, epilepsy drugs gabapentine and pregablalin. They were found in his possession when he was arrested for shoplifting at the weekend.

He also pleaded guilty to two further charges of failing to appear at court on July 19 and on August 2.

The court heard that the bike theft had occurred when a young boy had gone into a sweet shop and left his bike on the ground outside.

Warnes was passing, he saw the bike, picked it up and rode off. The young owner ran out of the store and gave chase but to no avail.

Mark Glendenning, defending, said that the bike theft was the result of a mistake on the part of Warnes who had wrongly thought it was abandoned and had not wanted to walk the distance home.

He also explained that the recent spate of offending was the result of an ongoing addiction to crack cocaine. Warnes had previously begun a drug rehabilitation course but it was interrupted when he was sent to prison earlier this year.

He stressed that the most recent theft of groceries, amounting to just £4.73 in value, was so that Warnes could "drink a cup of tea and eat a biscuit".

Probation officers asked the magistrates to consider imposing a community order to give Warnes another go at completing a community order.

Community orders are just one level below custodial sentences. In the Crime and Courts Act, the Government ruled that where they are imposed, there must be a punitive element included as part of the sentence unless there are "exceptional circumstances" that make it impossible to do so.

In this case, the Probation Service suggested that the "chaotic nature" of Warnes' life meant that merely being asked to do the rehabilitation course was punishment enough.

The magistrates opted to follow that line of thinking, handing down a one-year community order which would consist of a six-month medium intensity drug rehabilitation requirement and up to 15 days of rehabilitation activity as directed by the Probation Service.

He must also pay a victim surcharge of £85 and court costs of £35.