ONE of the country's most prolific thieves is back behind bars after stealing groceries from the Iceland store in Farnworth.

Harry Hankinson, aged 66, admitted stealing £111.36 worth of items from the store, in Brackley Street, on June 23.

He was sent to prison for two weeks and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £80 and a criminal courts charge of £150 at Bolton Magistrates Court.

Hankinson, of Kingsley Street, Halliwell, has more than 500 offences to his name, with more than 400 of those being for theft.

Last May he was jailed for 18 months at Bolton Crown Court and banned from Bolton town centre following seven thefts in February and March of 2014.

Hankinson had been bailed by magistrates but was arrested the following day after being caught with £335 of perfume at House of Fraser in Manchester.

During that hearing Hankinson's defence barrister Robert Elias told the court that Hankinson's offending started after a head injury in the 1970s.