A Stevenage thief who stole alcohol and a bike from a garage less than a month after receiving a suspended sentence has been jailed for 32 weeks.

Joshua Stapleton, 26, of Twinwoods, stole the booze and mountain bike – together worth £1,100 – from a garage attached to a home in Stevenage on Friday.

Stapleton admitted the theft when he appeared before Hatfield magistrates chaired by Corinna Cranch the next day, and was jailed.

He also admitted failing to attend a drug assessment at the town’s police station on February 8, and stealing more food from Stevenage’s Waitrose store on February 19.

Stapleton had been given a suspended sentence on February 11 for stealing food from Tesco in Stevenage – with that conviction following another in September for similar offences at the town’s Waitrose store, for which he also received a suspended sentence.

Mrs Cranch imposed a 26-week jail term for Friday’s bike and alcohol theft, activating the two suspended sentences in part to bring the total prison sentence up to 32 weeks.

She also ordered Stapleton to pay £530 in compensation, a £115 victim surcharge and £85 in costs – a total of £730.