A PROLIFIC thief has been jailed after carrying out two thefts and an attempted burglary.

Christian Warburton, of Westminster Avenue, Astley Bridge, has been sentenced for two counts of shoplifting and attempted burglary.

On Sunday, February 21, police received reports of a theft from a supermarket in Astley Bridge, where a large amount of alcohol had been stolen.

The following week, on Sunday, February 28, police were told about an attempted burglary at a building site on Mackenzie Street in Astley Bridge.

A member of the public disrupted Warburton, capturing the attempted burglary on his mobile phone.

On Tuesday, officers from the Bolton North Neighbourhood Team arrested Warburton, 30, on suspicion of shoplifting and attempted burglary.

He was taken into police custody to be interviewed.

Warburton was charged and remanded in police custody overnight, to appear at Wigan and Leigh Magistrates' Court today.

At court, Warburton pleaded guilty to all counts, as well as breaching a suspended sentence.

He was jailed for 30 weeks and ordered to pay £336 in compensation for the shoplifting and attempted burglary.

Warburton's latest bout of thefts come after he was sentenced for stealing parcels from apartment blocks and fuel from petrol station in an eight-month crime wave.

Wigan magistrates also heard how, on October 8, Warburton had no licence or insurance when he was driving a Vauxhall Vectra, which failed to stop for a red light on Blackhorse Street.

Earlier, on May 10 last year he had driven a Toyota Aygo on Great Marld Close, Bolton, without a licence or insurance then again on May 15 and 16 on Chorley New Road.

Warburton admitted stealing a patio heater, turf and decking the same month as well.

Then on January 21, police were sent to a disturbance on Westminster Road, Astley Bridge, where Warburton had assaulted a woman.

Three days later Warburton was arrested and when officers searched his home, they found a bag was found containing a laptop and a tablet which had been stolen from a vehicle on Ollerton Terrace in Sharples overnight.

In court the defendant pleaded guilty to all charges put before him and was sentenced to 18 weeks in prison, suspended for two years.

But the criminal is now spending time behind bars after his latest offending.