A POUNDLAND thief who owes thousands to a Worcester court in fines has walked free - but has been warned he will be jailed if he does not clear his debt.

Drug addict Abdul Razzak walked free from Worcester Magistrates Court on Monday after stealing several items from a Poundland store. He owes the Worcester court £2,473 and there have been no payments since May with some of the money he owes going back to 2014, the city clerk told magistrates.

David Shadwell, the chairman of the bench, warned Razzak that if he did not clear his debts with the court he faced a prison sentence.

"You're getting very close to that on that information" said Mr Shadwell.

The 39-year-old defendant stole clothing, cans of Red Bull, cakes and biscuits from the shop in Coventry Street, Kidderminster on May 26 this year.

Owen Beale, prosecuting, conceded that the valuation of the goods stolen from the shop (£60) was 'probably overoptimistic' when the thefts were from a pound shop and asked this to be deleted from the charge.

"I don't think it's possible to say how much was taken" he said. The thefts were captured on CCTV, coming to light after the footage was reviewed.

Mr Beale added: "There are lengthy numbers of matters recorded against him. He was last before the court in July last year for matters of theft from store and was given a community order on that occasion."

He described Razzak as having a large proportion of recent convictions for similar matters which he said was 'the major aggravating feature' of this theft.

Andrew Wakeman, defending, asked that Razzak be given full credit for his early guilty plea. "The matter is a straightforward one" he said.

The solicitor said the reason no value could be given for the items stolen was that the theft was picked up by members of staff reviewing the CCTV rather than being seen at the time.

He said there was 'no sophistication' to the theft and it involved 'taking items and walking out without paying'.

"He has struggled and had issues with drugs but, at the moment, he's not taking drugs but is in receipt of a methadone prescription" said Mr Wakeman.

Razzak, the father of a five-year-old, had told a probation officer that he was struggling with his methadone prescription and 'resorted to the purchasing of heroin'.

The officer said Razzak was not suitable for unpaid work because of his drug addiction.

Magistrates imposed a community order for 12 months with 15 rehabilitation activity requirement days. He was also placed on an electronically tagged curfew between 7pm and 7am for 12 weeks.

No fine was imposed because of his 'big court debt'. Razzak of Larkhill, Kidderminster will have to pay a victim surcharge of £95 which will be consolidated with his other debts.

The tag will allow him to smoke in the garden.