A SERIAL thief has been locked up again after stealing expensive jewellery from a Warrington business.

Shaun Clare also pilfered milk from a GP surgery in a shameful stealing spree across the town.

The 34-year-old has form for such unscrupulous behaviour, having been jailed previously for stealing a Warrington Hospital nurse’s purse and using it in shops.

He appeared back before Warrington Magistrates’ Court to stand trial on four counts of theft, however he changed his pleas to guilty that same day.

The circumstances of the offending were outlined by Thomas McLoughlin, representing the prosecution, who spoke of how all of the thefts were committed on June 14.

The highest value theft saw him take jewellery valued at around £2,000 belonging to PJs Extra, while he also stole phone cases and a power bank worth around £300 from Top Gift.

More thefts were committed at Accessories For You and Springfield Medical Centre, with Clare helping himself to handbags and purses from the former and milk from the latter.

The court heard of the defendant’s appalling criminal record, including his nurse purse theft conviction from April last year, for which he was jailed for 36 weeks.

He was also incarcerated for 16 weeks in October last year for breaching his criminal behaviour order banning him from all branches of Asda, Tesco, Co-op, Boots, Peacocks, Holland and Barrett, M&S, Wilko, Savers and Morrisons in Cheshire.

He did so by helping himself to products without paying in shops in Widnes.

For these latest offences, magistrates remarked that only a prison sentence was appropriate given the severity.

This takes into account the high value of goods stolen, the defendant’s horrendous history of offending, and the fact that he committed the thefts in breach of his post-sentence supervision order.

Clare, of Halton Lodge Avenue in Runcorn, was sentenced to 22 weeks immediate imprisonment.

He was also ordered to pay compensation of £2,000 for the PJs theft, £160 for the Accessories For You theft and £300 for the Top Gift theft.

No order was made for him to pay court costs, with compensation taking priority instead.