A dopey thief sat and necked four cans of lager and a bottle of wine inside the shop he'd just stolen them from.
Brazen Mark Kindley had earlier helped himself to booze from the Co-op, in Bedlington Station, Northumberland, but returned just a few hours later to steal some more. A court heard that the 36-year-old picked up three cans of Stella and a bottle of wine from the shelves - then sat down in an aisle and downed them in front of staff.
Alcoholic Kindley, of Coomassie Road, in Blyth, made no attempt to pay for the alcohol he'd drank and was arrested after police were called to the store. It also emerged that, in the weeks previous, the crook, who has 37 offences on his record, had been arrested twice for being drunk and disorderly.
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South East Northumberland Magistrates' Court was told that, on one of those occasions Kindley was being abusive and aggressive outside an address in Ashington, while, on another, he refused to leave a Go North East bus service and threatened to steal the bus. He was arrested after both of those incidents.
Kindley, who was on a suspended sentence at the time, appeared in the dock last month to plead guilty to two counts of being drunk and disorderly and two shop thefts and his case was adjourned for the preparation of a pre-sentence report. He appeared back in the same court this week to learn his fate.
Rehana Haque, prosecuting, said the two drunk and disorderly offences happened on February 6 and February 11. Less than two weeks later, on February 22, Kindley went on to commit the shop thefts.
Ms Haque continued: "The defendant stole a crate of Budweiser at around 14.20 but returned at 19.35 on the same day and took two bottles of wine and four cans of lager. He sat in the store and drank three of the cans and one of the bottles of wine. He was still in the store when police arrived."
Graham Crouth, defending, said Kindley had a long-standing problem with alcohol addiction and had been homeless for a number of months. Mr Crouth continued: "He had been living in a car.
"He was quite clearly going to get caught for the theft offences if he stopped and sat in the shop that he had been stealing from and drank the alcohol he had stolen. There has been significant challenges in his life and in his accommodation. Things are a lot more stable now."
Magistrates ordered Kindley to pay a total of £332.70 in fines, costs and compensation.
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