A man who walked up to the cash desk in a sports shop before cutting the tags off a pair of Nike trainers and stealing them has landed himself in court.

Carl Prior stole the £145 trainers when he went to exchange another pair, Teesside Crown Court heard.

The 40-year-old’s shop theft happened while he was serving a suspended sentence for driving offences.

Jonathan Walker, prosecuting, said: “He walked into the store picked up the trainers, walked towards the desk where he used a device to remove the security tag and then he left.

“The police came to his house and found the trainers without their tags on them.”

The court how Prior had been sentenced to eight months in custody suspended for 18 months dangerous driving with 35 rehabilitation activity requirement (RAR) days attached.

Prior, of West Lane, Middlesbrough, pleaded guilty to theft of the Nike trainers from Sports Direct on April 19 this year. He also pleaded guilty to a further charge of breaching the terms of his suspended sentence order.

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Simon Walker, mitigating, said his client had gone to the shop with the intention of exchanging a pair of trainers and can’t really explain why he stole them but has been struggling with drug misuse.

“He is at a loss to explain why he has done this,” he added. “He has never done anything like this before.

“He went in with a pair of trainers which he intended to exchange. There was nobody at the till and for some reason he has cut the tags off and walked out of the shop.”

Judge Timothy Stead told the defendant that he ‘needs to get to grips with your substance problem’ as he sentenced him ten further RAR days to mark the offence and ordered him to pay £145 in court costs.