HOMELESS at Christmas, a Chard man reverted to old habits and went shoplifting to raise some cash.
Glynn Stephen Read was caught on CCTV stealing a steam cleaner from a shop in Chard and when images of the footage were circulated to the public by police he was recognised and later arrested.
Read, 41, of Combe Street, admitted stealing the steam cleaner worth £35 from The Factory Shop in Great Western Road on December 21 last year when he appeared before Somerset Magistrates at Yeovil.
Emma Lenanton, prosecuting, said the defendant was caught on CCTV entering the shop and stealing the steam cleaner when he left without paying for it.
“Images of the CCTV were circulated by the police and Read was identified and named and when he was subsequently interviewed he admitted the offence,” she said.
Read told the court that he was a former heroin user but had been clean from the drug for the last five years.
He said: “I was homeless just before Christmas and it was a silly thing to do.
“I should not have done it, it was just stupidity, but it was Christmas and I needed some money.”
The magistrates imposed a 12 month conditional discharge on the defendant and fined him £40 with a £15 victim surcharge.
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