A pair of revellers stole a barrel of lager from a bar and hauled it on to a bus unchallenged.
But the thirsty duo were arrested as they stepped off the vehicle and never got a chance to drink a drop.
Unemployed Robert Russell and his pal had been drinking at Colchester nightspots on April 30 and stayed overnight with a friend.
They got up early the next morning to get the first bus back to West Mersea, making a pit-stop at Trotter's wine bar, a court heard.
With the barrel of lager in hand, they got on to a bus at North Station Road, but were arrested before they reached Russell's home, in Windsor Road.
Colchester magistrates heard Russell was arrested again on July 14, after being loud and abusive towards a police community support officer in Castle Park.
The teenager admitted theft, using threatening behaviour and breaching a community rehabilitation order yesterday.
The court heard the order was put in place after Russell threatened to burn his mother's flat down. Magistrates revoked the sentence.
Russell Haldane, mitigating, said the 18-year-old was now fully engaged with the mental health and probation services.
He said the lager theft was "unsophisticated and opportunistic" in nature, and the park incident the "most minor in the scale of public order".
He added the fire threat was an empty one, made as a cry for help.
Russell was given a year-long community order and a mental health treatment requirement for the same period. He must pay £140 towards court costs.
More in today's Evening Gazette
Published Thursday, September 22, 2005
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