A DRUG addict smashed into a popular chemist and stole more than £1,600 worth of perfume and aftershave which he wanted to sell to fund his habit.

Brett French broke into Boots in Red Lion Walk, Colchester, along with another man by kicking the glass panels at the front of the door until they shattered.

Once they got inside, the pair smashed a glass cabinet and removed 36 bottles of fragrance worth £1,624.95 in total. They then fled towards Eld Lane.

The pair caused £3,000 worth of damage.

Both men were captured on CCTV and tracked down when a member of security staff spotted the 35-year-old back in the town centre riding a bicycle and alerted police.

When police searched his home in Sussex Road, Colchester, they discovered one of the aftershaves which had been removed from a box and a tent in the bedroom which was being used to cover two cannabis plants French was growing.

He admitted burglary and cultivation of cannabis for the incident which happened on August 11 when he appeared at Colchester Magistrates’ Court and charges of drug driving, and driving without insurance or an MOT after being spotted by an undercover officer in Magdalen Street in May.

The police had become suspicious about the Peugeot 306 French was driving because of the poor state it was in and ran a check which showed the MOT had expired 18 months earlier.

When they pulled French over he admitted not having insurance and officers smelt cannabis.

A drug test showed he had eight times the legal limit of benzoylecgonine – the main chemical component of cocaine – in his system.

Levent Kemal, mitigating said French’s drug problem had got worse in recent months.

He said: “He is ashamed and embarrassed with his actions.

“His drug use has escalated in the last five months and become out of control.

“He grew the cannabis for personal use – he wanted to self grow to save money.

“The burglary was poor decision making on his part. He was approached by someone else saying it was a quick way to make money and he was not thinking straight.”

Magistrates handed French a 20 week jail term. Once he is released he will be banned from driving for three years.

He must also pay a £115 victim surcharge and the cannabis plants and cultivation equipment will be destroyed.