A SCRAP metal dealer who burgled a car showroom just weeks after being put on a suspended sentence has been told he may not be sent to prison.

Christopher Smith admitted breaking into the Pebley Beach garage at Wroughton in November last year.

The crime came just six weeks after the 25-year-old had been put on a suspended sentence by magistrates in Wales for another burglary.

But Richard Elliott, defending, said the probation order and community service would not have had time to take hold when the latest offence was committed.

And he said his client had done 160 of the 250 hours of unpaid work he was told to do and was about to start a Think First programme to tackle his offending.

Mr Elliott was making the representation before his client changed his plea to admit the break in on the morning of trial.

Judge John McNaught said that if the details about his probation were accurate the suspended sentence would not be activated.

Smith, of Hay Lane, Wroughton, changed his plea to admit the burglary between Sunday, November 25 and Wednesday, November 28.

Colin Meeke, prosecuting, said as well as the offence in Wales, Smith had also been convicted of burglary in Telford in 2005.

The court heard the first offence was at a cricket club and the second, at Haverfordwest, was siphoning fuel at a mobile home salesroom.

After the change of plea the judge adjourned the case to October 3 so the probation service could compile a report, and released him on bail.

He said that should they say something different about the defendant then a prison sentence was still an option.

Smith did not steal anything in the break-in. He was caught after a spot of blood recovered from the scene was found to contain his DNA.