Northampton shoplifter stole meat and fabric conditioner weeks after he was spared jail over 17 thefts from stores including Tesco, Boots and Co-op

A serial shoplifter has been jailed after thieving just six weeks after he was spared prison so he could attend a rehabilitation programme.

Paul Poyser, aged 48, was given 17 SENTENCES totalling 52 weeks in February this year for stealing goods including coffee, cheese and chocolate from stores where he was banned under a court order since 2019.

Magistrates suspended the punishments for two years and ordered Poyser to attend a rehabilitation programme.

But six weeks later, on March 20, he was back at the Co-op in Olden Road, Rectory Farm, stealing more meat.

He appeared at Northampton Magistrates Court again on Thursday (August 12) where he also pleaded guilty to taking Lenor fabric conditioner worth £80 from the same Co-op on May 5 and Yankee Candles worth £80 from Poundland in Weston Favell Shopping Centre in July.

This time he was sentenced to 52 weeks hanging over him from February — plus two more for his latest offences.

Poyser, of Treetops, Northampton, previously targeted three Co-op stores, a Nisa convenience store in Goldings, Tesco and Boots between March and November 2021.

His previous haul included:

■ Chicken totalling £90

■ Sandwiches, snacks, Red Bull

■ £83 worth of fish

■ Cooked meat

■ Ten jars of Nescafe

■ Cheese

■ Razors

■ Eight big bars of Cadbury chocolate

■ Lenor and more coffee

Latest figures showed more than 3,000 shoplifting crimes were reported in Northamptonshire in 2021-22, accounting for around four percent of all recorded offences.