A THIEF with a broken back carried out the least subtle shoplifting possible from Sainsbury’s after getting fed up with sleeping in his car.

Lee Carter decided he wanted a comfortable hotel room and he decided to steal to pay for it.

He went back to the same supermarket he had stolen from six hours later to steal some more items - and was caught.

Henny Tatum, prosecuting at Colchester Magistrates’ Court, said: “There were two separate occasions.

“At 1.41pm he walked into the store with a trolley and went to the shelves.”

Carter picked up a Dyson Hoover and a 43 inch television and put them in a trolley. He then wheeled them out of the store.

Ms Tatum said: “The incident was caught on CCTV. The defendant then returned to the store at 7.28pm.

“He walked in with a trolley, went to the same shelves and picked up another hoover.

“He walked towards the exit without paying for the item and was apprehended by security staff.

“They recognised him from the first incident.”

Carter, 39, from St Osyth admitted two counts of theft at Sainsbury’s Tollgate on March 6.

The court heard he first escaped with £590 worth of goods but the second hoover was recovered.

Ms Tatum said: “He made full admissions to police officers. He stated he stole them to pay for a hotel room.

“He had been sleeping in his car and needed a good night’s sleep.”

Danielle Jones, mitigating, said he had booked himself in for a week at the Feering Travelodge with money raised from the first theft.

She said: “He had got away with it. He needed money to pay for food while staying at the hotel so went back.”

She told the court Carter had been a head chef at Toby Carvery but had slipped and broken his back.

Ms Jones said a compensation claim was being made.

She said the broken back had led to eight plates and dozens of pins being put in his back and more operations were to come.

He was suffering with depression and his relationship had broken down forcing him to sleep in a car until he decided he had suffered enough.

District Judge Susan Holdham took pity on his situation after condemning the thefts.

She said: “These are very unusual circumstances.”

Magistrates fined him £100 for the first theft and ordered he pay £590 compensation and £30 in charges.

There was no separate penalty for the second theft.