A Newcastle man stole £116 of goods from a supermarket, because he was struggling to make ends meet on Universal Credit.
Alan Cunningham, 39, of St Peter's Road, Byker entered the Asda store in Benton and was tracked on CCTV as he selected items, detagged them and placed them in a shopping trolley.
Prosecutor Ami Dodd outlined the facts of the offence, which took place on 14th May 2019: "He went into the store and was seen on CCTV selecting many different items like gin, razors and T-shirts, removing tags and putting them in the trolley.
"He leaves the store without making any attempt to pay."
Cunningham received two conditional discharges earlier this year, when he stole from a Tesco store in North Shields.
Adrian Ions, mitigating, told the court that the offence was unsophisticated and his client had made full admissions to the police when interviewed.
Mr Ions added: "He was struggling with day-to-day living. He's in receipt of Universal Credit.
"Mr Cunningham is left with £190 per month, £6.30 per day. With the best will in the world, you are going to struggle to survive. That's £2 for every meal."
Mr Ions told the court that Cunningham's intention was to sell the items and use the proceeds to buy food.
"He is not a serial shoplifter. He is not doing this on a professional basis.
"In the two months since this incident, he has tried to ease his situation. He had drug problems in the past. He was referred to Plummer Court (an NHS drug and alcohol treatment facility), he is putting his life back in order."
The case was adjourned until 2nd August for pre-sentence reports.
If a shop thief walks around a store filling a trolley with spirits and razor blades and detagging them as they go, that does indicate a certain degree of planning and sophistication.
Given the timescale involved, Cunningham must be in breach of both his earlier conditional discharges and a pattern of offending is clearly beginning to emerge. This is a case that would merit the intervention of the Probation Service.
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