A SERIAL offender is back behind bars after being told he has a ‘flagrant disregard for others’.

Steven Jones has amassed a number of previous criminal convictions for offences of dishonesty.

The 37-year-old is back in prison after he pleaded guilty to charges of vehicle interference, theft from a motor vehicle and refusing to provide a sample for a drug test.

The hearing proceeded to sentence at Chester Magistrates’ Court, with the prosecution case outlined by prosecutor Matthew Dixon.

He spoke of how the charges related to offending that occurred on April 8 and June 4.

On the former date, the defendant was on Delamere Street in Whitecross when he interfered with a Nissan Micra with the intention of theft.

He also stole £3.20 in cash and a set of rosary beads from within a Toyota Aygo on the same street and day.

Further offending was committed on June 4 when Jones was detailed at Runcorn Custody Suite, having been arrested on suspicion of theft from a motor vehicle.

He failed ‘without good cause’ to provide a sample for the purpose of ascertaining whether he had a class A drug in his body.

The court heard of his previous convictions, which include a six-week jail term imposed in December for stealing from a health centre.

He was also previously caught on a video doorbell trying door handles of vehicles in Chapelford, and for stealing a bank card from a parked car and using it in shops.

In addition, he was locked up in January 2020 after being caught carrying a sock with a rock stashed inside it, stealing perfumes from Debenhams in Golden Square and pinching DVDs from HMV.

For his latest offences, the court remarked that Jones has a ‘flagrant disregard for court orders, people and their property’.

As the offending was committed while he was subject to a community order, the court concluded that the case was severe enough to merit a custodial sentence.

Jones, of Patten Arms Hotel on Parker Street near the town centre, was sentenced to 12 weeks of immediate imprisonment.