September 28, 2017 11.40 am This story is over 78 months old

Man targeted Market Rasen DIY shops to pay off drugs debt

He has been sentenced.

A shoplifter from south Lincolnshire who targeted two DIY stores in Market Rasen to pay off a drugs debt has been ordered to pay compensation of £223.

Clint Elliott, 45, who was living at the Foyer in Market Rasen, admitted two charges of theft when he appeared before Lincoln Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, September 28.

Jim Clare, prosecuting, told the court Elliott stole a toolkit worth £188.42 from a hardware store in Market Rasen on June 12.

A month later on July 13 he went in to the e-Quip store in Market Rasen and walked out with a padlock valued at £34.86.

When Elliott was questioned by police he admitted stealing the two items “to order” to pay off a drugs debt.

The court heard Elliott had been living at the Foyer in Market Rasen but had now moved to his mother’s address in south Lincolnshire and was voluntarily trying to help with his drugs problem.

He is currently complying with the Probation Service after he was made the subject of a community order in August for other offences.

Elliott, now of Main Street, Baston, was ordered to pay compensation of £223.28 at a rate of £5 a week.

The sentence will run alongside his community order which will continue.