A PROLIFIC shoplifter has admitted trying to steal a vacuum cleaner.
James Stephen Stuart, aged 53, from Central Court, North Road St Helens pleaded guilty to theft at Halton Magistrates’ Court on Thursday.
He took the Dyson equipment from QVC in Birchwood Shopping Centre, Dewhurst Road on October 5 last year.
Stuart also stole a flatscreen TV from Asda in Widnes on October 15.
The hoover was worth £301 and the TV £179.
He has numerous previous convictions for theft going back to 1986, and was last jailed in July last year for breaching a suspended sentence.
The suspended sentence was imposed for shoplifting, and he breached it by committing the same offence.
Stuart, who has long standing drug problems, claimed he stole as his benefits were stopped when he was released from prison.
The defendant was told to pay £480 in compensation, to be taken from benefits that have started again.
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