A THIEF was jailed for a month after he called magistrates a 'set of monkeys' in court.

Paul Keers, 40, was initially given 10 weeks behind bars for callously stealing a 78-year-old woman's bag while she went about her shopping.

Keers showed complete contempt for the magistrates when he was sentenced at Hartlepool.

He described the decision by justices as "a joke" and repeatedly ignored requests to take his hands out of his pockets.

As he was taken away he turned to his solicitor and remarked: "Make sure I don't get these three monkeys next time."

He was brought back before the court – but when he refused to apologise for his name calling, he was handed a further 28 days in prison.

Magistrates' chairman Keith Fisher made Keers appear before another bench for his contempt of court.

Chairman of the second magistrates' bench, Martin Slimings, told Keers: "You have had a number of opportunities to apologise and you have decided not to.

"That's 28 days on top of the previous sentence. Take him away."

Keers, of Oxford Road, Hartlepool, was standing trial after denying that he stolen a brown leather bag on February 11.

No-one saw him grab the bag, but CCTV footage showed him closely following his victim as she made her way out of the Morrisons store, in Clarence Road, at around 3pm.

He was then spotted by Hartlepool police drugs unit officers 20 minutes later.

They knew Keers to be a heroin user, so stopped to speak to him.

He ran away before pulling the bag from under his jacket and throwing it into bushes near the Grand Hotel before the officers caught up with him.

Heroin addict Keers told the court he had found the bag in the car park and was taking it to the police station but had put it under his coat.

He said: "I was worried the police would arrest me because I had heroin in my pocket.

"They have stopped and searched me on numerous occasions before.

"I swallowed the heroin, but I threw the bag first because I thought it would distract them and give me time to get rid of the drugs."

Keers was sentenced to 28 days in prison for the theft, 45 days for activating a suspended sentence order and another 28 days for contempt of court, all to run consecutively.