A PROLIFIC thief who flouted a court order by going into a Carlisle B&M store said he did it because he was "desperate for food."

At the city's crown court, Peter Martin Vickers, 43, of Chatsworth Square, Carlisle, admitted three offences.

They were: going equipped for theft with a 'sharp implement'; the theft of a gift set worth £26; and breaching a Criminal Behaviour Order that was imposed by Carlisle's Magistrates' Court on April 20, 2019.

The defendant committed all three offences on December 17 last year.

Defence barrister Dan Travers, for Vickers, told the court: "My instructions are that the defendant says he was desperate for food; and he is currently desperate to return to his flat."

Mr Travers said Vickers - currently being held in custody - wanted to apply for bail.

But Recorder Eric Lamb said that, given the defendant's history of problems with class A drugs, and given that he had only recently been released from a previous sentence, his legal team would have to give advanced notice of his bail application because the prosecution was likely to object.

He remanded Vickers in custody and ordered background reports from the Probation Service.

The defendant will be sentenced on February 18.

The going equipped for theft charge was accepted by the prosecution as an alternative to a charge of possessing an offensive weapon.

That charge was dropped.

In April of 2019, Vickers was jailed for 26 weeks after he admitted a spate of ten thefts during which he stole goods worth more than £1,700.

The highest value thefts were in Penrith, where he targeted Booths supermarket, stealing booze worth £170 on one occasion, and then he returned to the same store just a week later.

That time he stole alcohol worth £495.

He also stole from several other local stores, including Houghton Hall Garden Centre, Wilkinsons in Carlisle city centre and The Co-op in Carlisle.