A BURGLAR who was told he would be jailed if he failed again on a suspended sentence has walked free from court after he was caught shoplifting.

Scott Cadder, 29, who stole war medals from a neighbour in a spree of crime, was given the warning in June after breaching the terms of the order.

Judge Peter Blair QC said it was “against my better judgement”, when he allowed it to continue after hearing he had been rude to probation officers and reoffended.

He told him: “If there is any mucking about and not complying you will be back here and you will go to prison on this suspended sentence.”

But after Cadder was again caught stealing from a shop the judge gave him three months to stay out of trouble to get a “lenient sentence”.

Cadder was initially put on a 10-month jail term suspended for 18-months in August last year after he admitted a string of burglaries.

As well as taking the war decorations from a neighbour he also broke into store rooms of others in the block of flats where he lived.

Imposing the suspended sentence the judge told him: “It doesn’t get much lower than stealing someone else’s medals.”

But in June this year he was back before the court after he had been caught stealing from a shop and also for failing to comply with the probation requirements.

After being given the chance he was out stealing again just three months later, plundering cosmetics worth £212 from The Body Shop on September 14.

Richard Williams, defending, said his client insisted he was now clean of drugs and had even stopped taking heroin replacement methadone.

Judge Blair put off passing sentence until Friday, February 19, to see if Cadder, of Milverton Court, can stay out of trouble and comply with the order.

He said: “It does seem as though you are getting somewhere and I don’t want to squash the life out of the work that you have been doing to try and straighten things out.

“Another shoplifting [offence] is pretty frustrating from my point of view, to see that you have reoffended during the course of that suspended sentence, but I am going to put the ball in your court.

“You have got three months to stay out of trouble of any sort and continue with the existing order. If you are able to do that I will be able to give you a pretty lenient sentence on February 19. I am going to trust you for that period.”