A HEROIN addict with a record of 39 theft convictions called on magistrates to send him to jail so he could clean up his act when he faced a further two theft charges in court this week.

Garry Bourne of Wolsely Avenue, admitted stealing three bottles of Bacardi from the Co-op on Whitbourne Avenue on December 3 of last year and £22.14-worth of lynx deodorants from the Co-op on Regent Street on February 5 of this year when he came before magistrates sitting in Swindon on Monday.

The 38-year-old had been arrested for failing to attend court last week and appeared from custody, but the court heard that admitting these offences had put him in breach of a community order he had received in August of last year for two thefts from Wilkinsons.

Defending him, Mark Glendenning told the magistrates that his client had said he wanted to be sent to jail for these latest offences in order to sort his life out.

“Unsurprisingly these theft matters are committed at a time when he tells me he is using both heroin and crack and to fund that habit he stole those items,” he said.

But after hearing from the probation service, the magistrates instead imposed a suspended sentence on him.

Chairman of the bench Simon Wolfensohn said: “It would be wrong of us to send you to prison simply because that is what you want.”

He was sentenced to ten weeks in custody, suspended for 12 months, during which time he must work with the probation service to try and tackle his drug addiction. He must also pay £159.14 compensation to the Co-op for the stolen goods which were not recovered, along with a £80 victim surcharge.