[A] PROLIFIC shoplifter who snatched hundreds of pounds worth of alcohol from West Cumbria shops has been jailed.
Albert Robert Newell, 23, was handed two suspended prison terms late last year, the first for drugs supply crimes and the second for a series of thefts.
But crack cocaine addict Newell failed to take chances he was given to retain his liberty.
Around the turn of the year he went on a shoplifting spree. He pinched alcohol and food from stores on six different dates in November. He followed that up with three further shop crimes on successive days in mid-March.
“It is a common feature that in all of these shops he is known by security staff,” prosecutor Kim Whittlestone told Carlisle Crown Court.
Newell, of Pica Cottages, Pica, admitted nine thefts, and using a vehicle without insurance.
Judge Peter Hughes QC was urged to give him “one more chance” in view of “positive factors” in his life.
But Judge Hughes activated 15 months of the previous two suspended sentences for what he said had been a “sustained campaign of shoplifting”.
