A THIEF who fled a Worcester court during a cigarette break has been convicted of shoplifting in his absence.

Jacob Telford, of Maple Avenue, Tolladine, Worcester, had the case against him proved in absence following a hearing at Kidderminster Magistrates Court earlier this month.

The 22-year-old has now been convicted of the theft of items of value unknown from Co-Op in Gresham Road, Worcester on February 8 this year and of another theft from the Co-Op in Ambleside Drive, Warndon, on February 22 this year during which he stole meat and Ben and Jerry's ice cream worth £25, the charges against him proved in his absence.

Telford has now been convicted of the theft of items of value unknown from the Co-Op in Gresham Road, Worcester on February 8 this year and of another theft from the Co-Op in Ambleside Drive, Warndon, on February 22 this year during which he stole meat and Ben and Jerry's ice cream worth £25, the charges against him proved in his absence.

He was remanded in custody until September 27 at 2pm for a further hearing at Kidderminster Magistrates Court.

This was for the purpose of enabling inquiries to be made to determine the most suitable method of dealing with the case and for a pre-sentence report to be prepared by the probation service.

This will be an all options report which will include the possibility of a custodial sentence.

We reported in July how he fled Worcester Magistrates Court during a cigarette break.

The 22-year-old then faced four theft charges - shoplifting of meat worth £234 from Co-op in Worcester on July 30 last year; stealing £50 of meat from Co-op on September 14 last year; theft of £83.50 in packets of steak from Lower Wick Filling Station on October 10 last year and stealing £71 of meat products from Lower Wick Filling Station on January 16 this year.