A JUDGE decided to give a Worcester man a final chance of staying out of custody after he twice breached a community order.

Nicholas Harford had pleaded guilty to handling a stolen Audi two days after the car was taken, said prosecutor Matthew Barnes.

In June last year he was sentenced to an 18-month community order but failed to comply with his appointments.

His barrister, Charles Hamer, said 32-year-old Harford, of Buttermere Drive, Warndon, Worcester, turned up at the probation office on the wrong days and had been turned away.

At the time, he was on prescribed medication for a drug addiction but it was at the wrong level to deal with his condition.

He had since stabilised after being put on a daily dose of the heroin substitute methadone, Worcester Crown Court heard.

Judge Alistair McCreath told Harford he was "sailing close to the wind" and could not complain if he was locked up for the breaches.

But he was engaging with the probation service and it would be counter-productive to interfere with that course.

The judge added four extra supervision sessions to mark the offences.

From the dock, Harford promised not to let the judge down.