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A Hucknall man has been jailed for four months for series of thefts from shops in the town.

Thomas Howitt, aged 24, has also been banned from entering Tesco Express on Annesley Road and Home Bargains on Ashgate Road for two years after magistrates imposed a criminal behaviour order .

Should Howitt enter either of these stores in the next two years, he will be committing a criminal offence for which he would be arrested and put before court.

Howitt was originally arrested on May 23 and charged with six offences of theft from shops and possession of cannabis.

Thomas Howitt has been jailed and banned from two Hucknall stores

Additionally, he was also arrested in relation to a prison recall.

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Posting on their Facebook page, Nottinghamshire Police’s Ashfield team said: “As a breach of court order, it is likely the police decision would be to deny bail and he would go straight before the court due to risk of committing further offences.

“The hope is the clear conditions will set out to Howitt what is not acceptable and prevent future offending.

“If not the powers will hopefully give shop staff confidence to challenge Howitt knowing police can take enforcement action prior to any theft being committed.

“We had applied the conditions not to enter any retail premises in Hucknall but it would appear a decision was made it was proportionate to grant the order for Tesco Express and Home Bargains, the two stores which have taken the brunt of the majority of Howitt’s offending.

“Should Howitt continue to offend on release and move his target to other stores, we would seek expansion of this CBO to cover other stores.

Sgt Dale Smith, from the Hucknall policing team, said: “We are working hard to embed a problem-solving response to our local investigations and to concentrate on the matters most important to the local community.

“Similar to the Justin Lamb CBO, the hope is these orders will have a significant impact on local shop theft offending rates and break the cycle of offend, prison, offend, prison.

"As we get the business crime forum up and running, the aim will be that stores and those working within the town centre help identify individuals causing repeated problems such as shoplifting, aggressive begging or other behaviour causing harassment in the area and in partnership we seek solutions.”

Persistent Hucknall shoplifter jailed and banned from town stores