A REDDITCH burglar has been jailed after he broke into the butchers shop he used as a customer and stole nearly £1,000 worth of meat.

Paul Hands forced his way through iron railings over the window at the back of R.D. Rogers in Batchley Road while the owner was away at a family wedding, Worcester Crown Court heard.

The 41-year-old took more than £900 worth of meat including pork loins, beef, legs of lamb and large packets of bacon containing 45 rashers each, Jonathon Veasey-Pugh, prosecuting, told the court.

Owner Richard Rogers was away when the break-in took place between August 17 and August 19 last year.

In a victim impact statement, he said more meat had been damaged because a fridge was left open and his reputation had suffered because he was unable to make deliveries.

His niece blamed herself for him being away at her wedding and it marred her big day, Mr Veasey-Pugh said.

Hands' DNA was found on a drawstring bag left at the scene and some of the meat was found by police in a fridge at his home nearby, also in Batchley Road, the court heard.

He pleaded guilty to one charge of burglary.

Jason Aris, defending, said Hands had a poor record of non-dwelling burglaries and theft, but most of the serious offending took place when he was younger.

He had then been involved in drugs but had replaced this with a drinking habit he was finding hard to break.

Judge Michael Cullum said Hands, who had been an occasional customer at the shop, had a "terrible" list of previous convictions dating back to the 1980s when he was a juvenile.

"You have been in trouble most of your life," the judge told him. "Nothing has stopped you. If you continue to commit serious offences, your record will drag you into a sentence of years rather than months."

Hands was jailed for seven months.