A SERIAL changing room thief has been jailed for 27 months despite the judge being told his mother was desperately ill with terminal cancer. David Seville had been due to be sentenced three months ago but, out of mercy, Judge Jeffrey Burke QC postponed th

A SERIAL changing room thief has been jailed for 27 months despite the judge being told his mother was desperately ill with terminal cancer.

David Seville had been due to be sentenced three months ago but, out of mercy, Judge Jeffrey Burke QC postponed the sentence to allow Seville more time with his mother.

But yesterday (Thursday) he said he could no longer put off the inevitable prison sentence.

Seville, 26, of Kimbolton Crescent, Stevenage was before Luton Crown Court to be sentenced for two burglaries and a theft - offences he had admitted.

Michael Speak, prosecuting, said the offences were committed while Seville was under a suspended prison sentence for almost identical offences.

On February 7 this year he walked out of Sainsbury's in Welwyn Garden City with alcohol and razor blades worth almost �400. When followed he dropped the bag and fled.

On February 24 he walked into the changing rooms of the Cambridge University Rugby Club at Queen's College and stole cash, mobile phones and iPods from four players.

He was challenged as he left and ran off, discarding his coat which contained the stolen property and his own mobile phone.

Two days later he did the same thing at The Jets rugby club in South Oxhey during a match. He targeted the changing room of the away team who returned to find property missing and clothing strewn over the floor. He was recognised on CCTV by police.

David Wales, defending, said: "This spate of offending arose when he first became aware just how serious his mother's illness was. When under stress he drinks to excess and commits acquisitive crime.

"His mother is the one person who has stood by him and in the past few months he has been her principal carer. He has been able to deal with that unbearable pressure without drinking and offending, and has impressed his probation officer."

But Judge Burke said: "I have postponed sentencing you twice but you realise you cannot ask for more mercy. You have had chance after chance in the past.