Thief had 175 convictions

Neil Anthony Doughty, 63, of South Terrace, admitted stealing two bottles of perfume worth £134 from Oldrids in Boston.

Prosecuting, Ruth Snodin said he was seen to put the bottles in his pocket, then go to another department, take the security tags off the bottles, then put them back in his pocket and leave the store.

The court heard Doughty had taken the perfume to sell to get cash to pay for his electricity.

Mitigating, Michael Alexander said Doughty had had a positive experience of the Probation Service before and had committed the theft to get help from them as he was told the only way he could get help was to go to court.

“This all came about because his personal independent payments (PIPs) had stopped,” Mr Alexander said.

The magistrates imposed a community order with 20 days of rehabilitation activities.