A PROLIFIC thief who stole meat and a kettle to feed his heroin addiction has advoided jail.

Terry Dowling admitting to stealing steak and bacon from a BP garage in Droitwich before stealing a kettle from Wilko in Worcester at Worcester Magistrates’ Court.

A court heard how Dowling was caught by a police officer as he walked out of Wilko in High Street with the kettle on March 31.

He admitted to the police he had stolen the kettle and he planned to sell it for drugs and food.

On March 21, Dowling walked out of the Marks and Spencer store at the BP garage in Worcester Road with the meat under his jacket on March 21. He was not caught at the time and the meat was not recovered.

Dowling said he ate some of the meat and sold the rest.

Adrian Jones, prosecuting, said the meat theft was a “straightforward shoplifting offence” and because it was never recovered, he was making an application for compensation.

Mark Turnbull, defending, said: “There was nothing sophisticated or complicated about these thefts.

“Unfortunately, he walked straight into the arms of a police officer.

“Mr Dowling has been struggling for a number of years with his heroin addiction.

“It is not a heroin habit that is out of control. It’s not as good as it could be but at least it’s moving in the right direction.

Mr Turnbull added that Dowling was currently on methadone but was also using three to four bags of heroin a week on top of that.

At the time of the theft, he was facing financial difficulty because his employment and support allowance (ESA) had been suspended for six weeks.

Whilst Dowling believed he had completed his rehabilitation requirement days from a previous theft, the probation service said he not been engaging with them or drug recovery charity Swanswell.

Dowling was sentenced to four weeks suspended for 12 months and ordered to pay £50.20 compensation to Marks and Spencer for the meat.

Simon Freebairn, chairman of the bench, said: “Looking at your previous convictions it is not an envious piece of reading material.

“We are prepared to suspend the sentence but if you are back in this court for whatever reason then these thefts will come back to haunt you.”

Dowling stole two chocolate yule logs over Christmas 2016 and two toy drones from Debenhams in November.

The hearint took place on Thursday, April 19.