Jailed: Homeless ex-prisoner went on two-week Telford crime spree

Joshua Guy targeted Telford Ice Rink, the Premier Inn and the Park Inn for a number of thefts and burglaries.

He also took tea and biscuits from the communal kitchen of Sandino Court in Telford, a retirement housing development.

The 26-year-old was released in prison on February 8 this year and found himself homeless.

Stephen Scully, for Guy, said: "He went to the letting agent because he had been told that his room had been kept for him.

"But he found that it had not been kept. He made inquiries about his belongings but found that they had been thrown out."

Left without money, clothes or somewhere to live, Guy embarked upon a crime spree.

After first targeting Sandino Court on February 12 at about 8pm he visited Telford Ice Rink where he stole two charity donation boxes.

Guy repeated his visit on February 18 at 5am, where he again stole two charity boxes.

Lisa Hancox, prosecuting, said: "On February 22, he went to the Premier Inn and stood in the bar under the pretence of waiting for his girlfriend. A member of staff was charging her phone which he took, to the value of £50."

On the same day he visited the Park Inn, where he took a set of car keys from a gym bag, which he used to get into the car and took £240 from the glove box. The next day he was caught again at the Park Inn where he was trying to go through gym bags, and was found to have a laptop and earphones taken from the office.

Guy admitted four offences of theft, two of burglary, one attempted theft and one attempted burglary when he appeared at Telford Magistrates Court on February 25, but also asked for five further offences of theft to be taken into account. The court heard he had 45 previous convictions.

One of the thefts dated back to November 21, before his initial prison sentence, where he helped himself to about £70 from a handbag that had been left at a doctors' surgery.

Mr Scully said Guy, previously of Hurleybrook Way in Leegomery, but appearing at Shrewsbury Magistrates Court yesterday by video link from HMP Hewell, struggled with problems every time he returned to Shropshire.

He said the only time Guy had been able to move his life forward was after he was released from prison in around 2012, where he spent 18 months working on a farm in South Wales as part of the Vision of Hope scheme.

Mr Scully said Guy had been in contact with the scheme who said they would be willing to give him a place on his release.

Judge Jim Tindal sentenced Guy to 12 months imprisonment. He said he was "pleased to hear" that Guy had made his own inquiries about the scheme and urged him to change his life for the better on his release.