A CAREER thief who stole more than £1,000 worth of goods in an eight-month spree has been jailed for 14 weeks.

Jamie Warnes, 36, nabbed his loot from garages, supermarkets and a carvery restaurant – and even threatened shopkeepers with a syringe.

The drug addict stole alcohol, meat, chocolate, make-up, perfume, toilet air fresheners and a charity box between March and October this year, totalling £1,049.90.

He appeared at Swindon Magistrates Court on Monday where he admitted eight counts of theft, possession of an offensive weapon in a public place, and possession of heroin and cannabis.

Describing his charity box theft in March, prosecutor Keith Ballinger said Warnes prised it off a chain from behind the bar of Toby Carvery in Buckinghamshire.

He said Warnes managed to make his getaway from Sainsbury's in Paddington Drive in October because he ‘gestured towards staff with needle’.

The thief then had an altercation with security guards at Morrisons two days later while trying to steal alcohol, sending two bottles smashing to the floor in the struggle.

Warnes, from Swindon but of no fixed address, was given a 12-month community order in August this year for other theft offences.

Jailing him for 14 weeks, magistrate Gail Chilcote made an order for the forfeiture and destruction of the drugs and imposed a £115 surcharge.