A HANDBAG thief whose victim died in a Worcester supermarket has been jailed for three-and-a-half years after he spurned a chance given to him by a judge.

Rory Jones, aged 26, snatched the bag after 77-year-old Mary Tudge left it unattended on a trolley in Tesco, St Peter's.

High Court judge Mr Justice Morland gave the heroin addict an 18-month drug treatment and testing order last May, warning him the alternative was jail.

But Jones was arrested on another shoplifting expedition 10 days after the order and then failed to keep appointments with the probation service.

He also failed to attend court to be re-sentenced and had to be arrested on a warrant issued last week.

"This is the reckoning you were warned about," Mr Justice Hughes, sitting at Worcester Crown Court, told Jones, of Liverpool Road, Worcester.

Referring to Mrs Tudge's death, he added the theft had clearly resulted in the tragedy.

"You had no reason to suppose that the consequences of your actions would be as terrible as they were. But the consequences were as a result of what you did."

He sentenced Jones for breaching the order and the original six counts of theft and failing to surrender to bail.

Stephen Thomas, prosecuting, described how Jones went on a shoplifting spree last year, stealing alcohol and toys worth £65 from Tesco, goods worth £105 from Top Man and items worth £49 from the Coop. He also stole a rucksack, a bike and 15 DVDs from a house.

On Friday, January 11, this year, tragedy struck when he returned to Tesco which he bragged to a pal was "a real good earner".

Mr Thomas said Mrs Tudge, of Hidcote Close, St Peter's, was overcome with distress when she found her bag stolen. She collapsed and died in the store. She had been suffering from a heart condition.

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