A prolific thief from Stevenage has been jailed after he continued stealing mere hours after magistrates gave him a suspended prison sentence.

Repeat offender Stefan Meen, 30, was sentenced to eight weeks behind bars, suspended for 12 months, at Hatfield Remand Court on Thursday after pleading guilty to 11 shop thefts in Hitchin and Stevenage.

Later that day, he stole £80 worth of meat from Hitchin’s Waitrose store – meaning he was hauled before Hatfield magistrates again the next morning.

Chairman of the bench Vivien Marshall activated the suspended sentence, adding a week for the latest offence to make a nine-week jail term. Meen must also pay £115 surcharge.

Meen, of Brighton Way in Stevenage, was sentenced to 15 months’ imprisonment in February last year after he admitted pushing a woman to the ground and stealing her bag in central London in December 2015.

On that occasion he was caught as he ran away after a passer-by stuck out his leg and tripped him up.