Shoplifter caught just ONE DAY after court let him off the hook

A prolific thief was caught shoplifting - the day after he was up in court for a similar crime.

Lee Raymond Stephenson was up before Magistrates on January 10 this year, but the community order they handed down didn’t stop him walking out of M&S on Northumberland Street with £90 worth of booze on January 11.

District Judge Bernard Begley warned Stephenson he was on his very last chance.

Judge Begley told Stephenson he was very close to receiving a prison sentence, instead of having to pay fines and compensation.

He told him: “When is the penny going to drop, Mr Stephenson?

“You were in court in January, you’re in court in February, if history is anything to go by you will be in court in March.”

Stephenson protested that problems with his benefits had now been solved, leaving him with no more need to steal, but the judge said: “Sad to say, I have heard it all before.”

He told Stephenson, he was banned from every national supermarket.

The 31-year-old, of Jenison Avenue, Newcastle, was sentenced at North Tyneside Magistrates’ court for four counts of shop theft.

He stole a total of £558 worth of spirits in raids on Sainsbury’s and Morrisons, as well as the city centre M&S, between November last year and January.

Mitigating on behalf of Stephenson, solicitor Greg Stephens said had been left in an impossible financial situation due to an error with his benefits, which saw him paying £100 every two weeks towards court fines, leaving him with very little cash to live on.

This had been solved, he said, meaning his client should no longer feel the need to steal.