A DRUG addict who "cheekily" stole furniture from a shop on consecutive days has been jailed for nine months.

Trevor Green walked out of Carters Furniture in Kidderminster carrying a £265 mahogany lamp table, Worcester Crown Court heard.

Next day he left the store with a £335 coffee table without paying, said Jason Aris, prosecuting.

The furniture was sold at car boot sales for small sums to feed Green's heroin habit.

When police caught up with him at his brother's home, he escaped through a bedroom window and was on the run for two days.

Green, 31, of Worcester Road, Kidderminster, pleaded guilty to two counts of theft and escaping from lawful custody.

Mr Aris said both pieces of stolen furniture had been near the shop entrance which was covered by security cameras. A policeman who had known Green, a father of three, for six years identified him from video footage.

He was arrested on September 1 but police allowed him to go to a bedroom to get his nephew ready for school. He escaped but was caught at another relative's home.

Green, who had previous convictions for driving while banned and failing to surrender to bail, was due to be released from a four-month jail term this Friday, said Adam Western, defending.

The thefts were "cheeky offences in broad daylight" which were motivated by drug addiction, he added.