A shoplifter who asked a court for quick justice got his wish yesterday.

Karl Carroll stole razor blades worth £109.70 from Morrison's supermarket, in Harrogate, on Sunday and spent the night in a police cell before appearing at the town's magistrates' court.

Carroll, 25, a heroin addict, pleaded guilty to theft and obstructing police by giving two false names.

His solicitor Stephen Smithson said Carroll, of Seacroft, Leeds, wanted sentencing rather than having the case adjourned for probation reports.

Mr Smithson said: "'He has had the courage to admit the offences rather than prolong things. He recognises imprisonment is merited for offences like these aligned to a record like his.''

Sentencing Carroll to two months in prison, District Judge Graham Parkinson said: "I have every sympathy when young men like you are addicted to drugs. They are terrible things and you get into a cycle where you can't live without them.

"Unfortunately they will kill you in due course unless you come to the realisation that you have to stop.''