A BUNGLING shoplifter who tried to escape security staff by breaking his way through a disabled toilet ceiling was captured after falling through the store's roof.

James Hodgkiss was jailed for 15 months after pleading guilty to shoplifting at Family Bargains, a previous theft at Aldi, criminal damage and a house burglary.

Nicholas Flanagan, prosecuting, told the Bolton Crown Court how 33-year-old Hodgkiss was was spotted in the Family Bargains store in Trinity Street, Bolton, on July 2 putting toiletries and bedding in a basket and walking out without paying.

He fell over and was caught as he fled the store by security staff, who locked him in the disabled toilet while they waited for police.

But Hodgkiss clambered onto the toilet cistern, smashed his way through the ceiling and climbed onto the roof.

"He tried to walk along the roof but it collapsed and he fell through," said Mr Flanagan, who added that the thief was recaptured.

The previous month Hodgkiss had also stolen meat from Aldi in Bolton then while on bail he burgled a house on July 26.

David Neild was watching television at his Sevenoaks Drive, Great Lever home when Hodgkiss walked into the hall and took keys from the door.

He was spotted by Mr Neild, who chased and detained him after the burglar fell over in nearby Lever Street.

The court heard Hodgkiss, of Crown Lane, Horwich, had an extensive criminal record for theft.

Michael James, defending, said Hodgkiss, who works as a scrap metal collector, had been using heroin since his early 20s but now wanted to become a better father to his three children.

Sentencing him to prison, Recorder Michael Blakey told Hodgkiss he was involved in "an ever increasing spiral of offending".