Telford cheese thief was caught in the act

Stephen Eric Cunningham, 36, admitted two charges of theft from Nisa Stores in Little Dawley, when he appeared at Telford Magistrates' Court yesterday.

The court was told that he took the blocks of cheese over two days but was caught in the act by a shop assistant who recognised him from the earlier theft and followed him out of the store where he dropped the cheese and ran off, but police arrested him later that day, the court heard.

Cunningham, of Purbeck Dale, Dawley, Telford, admitted taking £56 worth of goods on February 22 and more blocks of cheese worth £71 the following day.

Magistrates' chairwoman Diane Treherne said: "Mr Cunningham we are going to deal with this today by way of a conditional discharge.

"This means you are not going to be punished today but if you commit any other offences in the next 12 months you will be punished for that offence as well as this one."

Prosecuting, Sara Beddow said of the first theft: "He selected 13 blocks of cheese from the display. He put them inside a carrier bag and left without paying. The incident was caught on CCTV."

She told the court he was arrested the following day after trying unsuccessfully to repeat the theft. He sold the first batch to buy drugs.

Defending, Elizabeth Hughes said Cunningham was a long-term drug user who was given a drug rehabilitation order in March 2013 for similar offences, adding he had co-operated with the probation service for the order.

She said February's thefts should have been taken into consideration alongside the other offences.