A prolific thief who continued stealing from Hitchin town centre shops despite being on a suspended sentence has now been jailed.
Trevor Howard, of Whinbush Road in Hitchin, was handed a 26-week sentence by magistrates sitting at Hatfield Remand Court when he appeared there on Wednesday.
The 51-year-old admitted stealing two bottles of aftershave together worth £172 from Boots in Hitchin High Street on January 25, and failing to answer bail at Stevenage Magistrates’ Court on February 19.
The theft came barely two weeks after Howard received a suspended sentence from Stevenage magistrates on January 10 for three other thefts from the same branch of Boots during November and December last year.
He was also subject to a suspended sentence for five more shop thefts in the town, imposed by St Albans magistrates on December 11.
Jailing Howard, chairman of the bench Raymond McLean noted his “prolific offending” and the fact that he had breached two recent suspended sentence orders.
He also ordered Howard to pay £172 in compensation for the aftershave, allowing him to pay £5 per week from August 22 this year.
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