A man stole nearly £1,000 of meat from a Darlington supermarket, a court heard today.

James Fishwick, from Darlington, managed to raid the Marks and Spencer’s store for hundreds of pounds worth of meat over two days.

On June 23 he stole £289 worth of meat and the following day he took another £401.75 worth.

Earlier this month he was given a community order for the theft of a push bike.

Get the latest news, sports, and entertainment delivered straight to your device for just £4 for 4 months. Click here

Magistrates at Newton Aycliffe decided that the additional thefts would not have significantly changed the sentence he received on July 3.

He was given a fine and told to keep up his efforts to come off drugs.

John Garside, prosecuting, described how Fishwick had already been given a sentence for a similar offence this month.

He said: “The offences date back to the 23rd and 24th of June at M&S.

“In total he stole £690.75 worth of meat.

“The defendant comes before court with previous convictions.

“On July 3 he was given a community order and drug rehabilitation for the theft of a pushbike.

“These two offences pre-date the sentence that was given.”

Stephen Andrews, mitigating, described how Fishwick had been making a lot of progress with rehabilitation.

He explained that he didn’t believe these two offences would have changed the community order sentence given by magistrates earlier in the month.

He said: “The defendant pleaded guilty to both of these charges at the first time of asking.

“It’s clear that the offenses were committed prior to the sentence given on July 3.

“Jack has struggled with substance misuse following the untimely passing of his mother.

“In July the court took the view that a rehabilitation course would be useful.

“He is on a new course and he feels better than he ever did.

“Jack has not committed an offence since the community order was made.

“I would invite the court to take the view that had these offences been made before your colleagues made their sentence it wouldn’t have made a difference.”

Presiding magistrate Ramshaw said that she hoped Fishwick continued to have success with his rehabilitation programme.

Read more

She said: “We do understand that these offences pre-date the offence that you got the community order for.

“It’s early days with your community order.

“It’s encouraging to hear that you are doing better with your drug rehab. Keep that up.

“You will have to pay that money back to M and S and court costs for a total of £775.75.

“We will add that to what you owe already.

“It will continue to come off your benefits payments.”