A DRUG addict has been sent to jail for four months after he stole £68 aftershave from a shop in Malvern.

Richard Doe was chased around Boots just minutes after he had left and then returned to the shop in Roman Way on Wednesday.

Worcester Magistrates Court heard how Doe was seen acting suspiciously by a security guard and was observed leaving the store.

Douglas Marshall, prosecuting, said: "After Doe left the store the security guard checked the area he had been and noticed two empty boxes of aftershave. He checked the CCTV which showed him taking them."

Mr Marshall said Doe returned to the store 15 minutes later and the doors were shut in a bid to prevent him leaving. However, Mr Marshall said Doe managed to escape after he was chased around the shop and dropped a bag which did not contain either aftershave bottles.

Police were alerted and Doe, of Elgar Avenue, Malvern, was arrested about six hours later. They found one of the £34 bottles on him.

The court also heard how Doe had been made subject of a 12-month suspended sentence for shoplifting and receiving and handling stolen goods last year.

However, the suspended 12-week jail term was extended to 18-months after he failed to keep appointments with the probation in January.

In mitigation Rob Macrory said Doe committed the offence because he has a "chronic addiction to drugs" but added it was inevitable he would be sent to jail.

"It's like lambs to the slaughter," he said. "He knows he's not going home on the bus to Malvern tonight. He accepts his fate."