Drug addict 'stole to survive' with shoplifting spree at Leeds Morrisons, Sainsbury's and Co-op

Daniel Hooks stole chocolate, meat, fabric softener, wine and gin worth a total of £600 between October 27 and November 13. Shops targeted included Sainsbury’s in Hyde Park, Morrisons and McColl’s in Woodhouse and Co-op in Headingley. He even stole candle holders from Hyde Park GP Surgery.

The 34-year-old was eventually detained on November 16 when patrolling officers spotted him on Woodhouse Street, Woodhouse, and recognised that he was wanted, prosecutor Jordan Millican told the court.

They found a flick knife in his pocket after handcuffing him. During his interview he told officers he was “stealing to survive” and carried the knife for protection.

Hooks, of no fixed address, has 14 previous convictions for 37 offences, including shoplifting, robbery and possession of a knife, for which he received 26 weeks’ jail last year.

Appearing in court this week via video link from HMP Leeds, where he has been held on remand, for his latest offending he admitted 14 counts of theft and one of possession of a bladed article in public.

Mitigating, Nicholas Hammond said: “It won’t come as any great surprise that the background is his drug habit. It’s a habit he has had a number of years and it’s an all-too-familiar story.”

He said having been sentenced to short-term stints in jail, Hooks is put on a methadone programme to combat his heroin addiction. But on his release, is unable to get a continuation of the prescription, so returns to heroin and needs to steal to maintain the costly habit, until he is re-arrested and jailed again.

Mr Hammond said: “He is asking for help. At 34 he would like to break that cycle that is regrettably repeated.”

The judge, Recorder Andrew Haslam KC told Hooks: “You are a drug addict and the system can’t help you in its present form.”

He told him he must face a mandatory six-month jail sentence at least for his second knife offence. He gave him eight months in total.