A 40-year-old man has been jailed after admitting to stealing £45 worth of food from Marks and Spencer in Irvine.

Francis Hughes appeared at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court last week from custody and pled guilty to one charge of Theft by Shoplifting.

Hughes, of Irvine’s Afton Court, is currently serving a 14-month jail sentence in relation to another matter.

On June 6 of this year, Hughes entered the store in Riverview Retail Park.

He was observed by a member of the public removing items from the display, put them in his rucksack, and then leave to go outside without making any effort to pay.

The court heard that the value of the items Hughes stole amounted to £45 and that there was no recovery of them.

Hughes’ defence lawyer, Katy Dawson, said: “He’s now 40 and he appears with quite a prolific record with analogous convictions. The circumstances are that he has a drug addiction. He was taking items to fund that habit. He has pled guilty at the earliest opportunity.”

Sheriff Alistair Watson sentenced Hughes to four months imprisonment to run consecutive to the jail term he is currently serving.