Colchester Marks and Spencer thief is jailed for shoplifting

Brian King, 38, made off with £401.17 worth of items during eight different thefts between January and October 2019.

Colchester Magistrates’ Court heard the items he snatched ranged from engine oil to meat and alcohol.

King was spared a prison sentence when he appeared before the magistrates in October 2021 and handed a community order with a raft of requirements.

Targeted - the former Marks and Spencer shop in Colchester High Street

But he has now been put behind bars after breaching the order.

The same court heard King failed to report as instructed to a planned office visit with the Probation Service on January 13 and 20 this year.

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A report reads: “Mr King failed to provide acceptable documentary evidence of reasons for absences within the specified time limit.”

King, of Chinook in Highwoods, Colchester, admitted the breach and was jailed for four weeks.

Theft - King stole from a BP garage in Colchester (Image: Newsquest)

The shoplifter began his spree of thefts in January 2019 when he stole £10.47 worth of alcohol from Marks and Spencer, then based in Colchester High Street.

He then targeted the same shop on April 14 and took food and alcohol worth £23.45.

Two days later, King stole alcohol to the value of £21.27 from a BP service station in Colchester.

The thief returned to Marks and Spencer on June 22 to snatch £26.60 worth of meat and stole more meat, worth £76.25, from a Colchester Co-op four days later.

Locked up - King was jailed during a sentencing at Colchester Magistrates' Court (Image: Newsquest)

In July, King once again went to M&S and thieved two bottles of engine oil worth £71.98 in total.

His final crimes were committed in the same High Street shop on October 1 and 13 when he snatched £41.20 worth of meat and five bottles of oil worth £129.95.

King was handed a four week prison sentence for all eight thefts to run concurrently to the four week sentence he was given for breaching the community order.

The report served to the magistrates added: “Offence so serious because the defendant has a flagrant disregard for court orders, because [he is] not engaging with the community order and has committed further offences.”

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