Workington thief Nicky Hewitson stole booze worth £1,000

Nicky Hewitson, 34, who has already served previous jail terms for burglary offences, was punished by magistrates for a series of thefts which saw him repeatedly target Workington's Asda store.

He returned there seveal times to steal high-value alcohol.

Appearing in the dock at Workington’s magistrates’ court, the defendant, of Roper Street, Workington, entered guilty pleas to the following offences:

• Stealing 13 bottles of vodka worth £221 from Asda in Workington on April 4.
• Pilfering seven bottles of vodka, valued at £119, from the same store on April 1.
• Taking booze worth £187 from the same store on March 26.
• Stealing six bottles of vodka and two bottles of JD valued at £170 from Asda on March 7.
• Failing to comply with a community order imposed on October 1 last year after he stole alcohol worth £200 from Tesco.
• Stealing Smirnoff vodka worth £164 from Tesco in Workington on March 18.
• And stealing two bottles of alcohol, valued at £40, from Frozen Foods in Workington on December 12 last year.

The court heard that the community order breach involved the defendant twice being away from his home address during the hours of a curfew.

He had no reasonable excuse for this on either occasion, and he also failed to make himself available for probation officials when required.

Jailing Hewitson for a total of 82 days, magistrates said the offences were so serious because he had offended while he was under a community order and while on bail and because he had shown “a flagrant disregard for court orders.”

The total value of the alcohol that he stole over the weeks of his latest offending came to £1,101, though court records do no show whether any of the stolen alcohol was recovered by the shops involved.

When released from jail, he will be liable to pay prosecution costs of £85 and a victim surcharge of £128.

The defendant was represented by defence lawyer John Cooper.