Burglar squeezed through the doors of Wakefield Sports Direct to steal a rack of jackets

Louis Roebuck was already wanted on suspicion of an attempted house burglary in when he spotted that the doors of the Westgate shop slightly ajar on the morning of 10 November last year, minutes before the store was due to open.

The 31-year-old alcoholic and drug addict was caught on CCTV stealing 10 Adidas jackets worth £350 and was picked up by police not long after, prosecutor Jade Edwards told Leeds Crown Court.

Ms Edwards said that Roebuck had also been seen on CCTV five days prior at the rear staircase of the sports shop trying to break, but failed.

Roebuck, of no fixed address, admitted a charge of burglary and attempted burglary.

He was also found guilty after a trial of attempting to break into a house on Garden Street, Castleford, in October while the occupier was asleep upstairs.

A further offence was also admitted after he tried to break into a garage where his blood was left at the scene.

The court was told he has 34 previous convictions for 50 offences, including multiple thefts and burglaries.

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Mitigating, Steve Swan said Roebuck had spent three of the last five years serving custodial sentences.

He said: "He has the motivation to change. At 31, he is sick of it.

"He has done every course going while in prison and wants to get out into the work place."

He said that Roebuck was taking a heroin medication to combat the effects of withdrawal, but alcohol was his biggest issue.

Mr Swan said: "It is drink. Once in drink, drugs surface, but primarily it's the drink that causes him to relapse."

Sentencing him to 30 months in prison, Judge Mushtaq Khokhar told Roebuck: "Until you rid yourself of your addiction, nothing will change."

This article was first published by the Wakefield Express.