A "SKILFUL shoplifter" caught stealing from five Chester city centre stores has been jailed.

Luke Johnson, 51, of Brook Street, Chester, was "angry he had let himself down", Chester Crown Court heard on Tuesday, July 26.

Sentencing Judge Simon Berkson said he felt let down too, as he had previously given Johnson a conditional discharge at a previous court hearing in February, having heard the defendant was making progress to rid himself of a drug addiction.

But Johnson began his shoplifting spree within weeks of that court hearing.

Having admitted all the charges, Johnson – who also breached his Criminal Behaviour Order several times by concealing the items in a bag while shoplifting – was jailed for a total of 16 months.

Prosecuting, Joanne More said the first offence happened on March 11, when Johnson stole four pairs of spectacles from Specsavers, concealing the items in a bag. A police officer recognised Johnson on the store's CCTV footage.

The following offences took place on March 31, April 2 and April 14 at the city's Lakeland store, all captured on the store's CCTV. On the first two occasions, Johnson stole a stainless steel Aarke sparkling water maker worth £178.99. On the third occasion, he stole a £139.99 SodaStream One Touch sparkling water maker. The items were not recovered.

The court heard Johnson had tried to conceal his appearance by wearing a baseball cap and a face mask.

On April 6, a Marks and Spencer security guard in Ellesmere Port saw Johnson stealing bags. Johnson was caught with four shopping bags and tin foil, collectively worth £10.15. Miss Moore told the court that while Johnson had entered guilty pleas at an early stage to all the other offences, for this offence had denied it up until his day of trial, when he changed his plea to guilty.

On April 15, Johnson was spotted by a member of the public in Superdrug placing an item into a bag, and told security.

Johnson was found to have stolen a £99 bottle of Emporio Armani, but the item was recovered. Police noted the bag was foil-lined, and the defendant had been wearing a baseball cap and face mask.

On May 7, a staff member and member of the public saw items of clothing had been taken from Fatface in Chester. Johnson had claimed in relation to a stolen sweatshirt: "I just wanted to try it on" and he was asked to leave the store.

The staff member radioed other stores to be aware there was a shoplifter about, and at Phase Eight, staff discovered five items of clothing were missing.

Information was passed on to council CCTV operators, who relayed details to police. Johnson was searched and, inside his carrier bag, were three pairs of jeans from Fatface and inside his coat were five dresses.

The £361 of items from Fatface and the £403 of items from Phase Eight were all recovered.

Johnson had 80 previous convictions for 237 offences and was a "prolific shoplifter", Miss More told the court.

Defending, Oliver King said Johnson's best mitigation was his guilty pleas.

The defendant had believed he was making good progress on tackling his drug addiction, but since his last release from prison he was living on only £60 per week to eat and live, and borrowed money.

Mr King said the individuals "came knocking for the money back with interest", and Johnson "reverted to his old ways" by shoplifting.

Judge Berkson said: "These were skilful shoplifting offences because you are a skilful shoplifter, as that is effectively what you have been doing for many years.

"I was told you had turned your life around in 2021, you explained that in a conversation to me and I bent over backwards to help you and gave you a conditional discharge.

"That was on February 25, but by March 11 you were back to your old job of shoplifting.

"You have a Criminal Behaviour Order because you are a menace to these shops. I am afraid today is the day you go to custody for these offences."