A MAN who swapped his worn-out trainers for a new pair of shoes in a Worcester shop has been jailed because he failed to pay for them before he walked out.

Stephen Pike had more than 200 previous theft convictions when he spotted the £70 shoes in the window of Eco in The Shambles.

The 46-year-old alcoholic, serving time in Gloucester prison for burglary, asked an assistant if he could try both shoes on - and then walked out without paying.

Shortly afterwards, police found him happily munching his lunch in Burger King.

Peter Parson, prosecuting at Droitwich Magistrates Court, said a shop assistant who witnessed Pike's crime on Friday, July 13, she recognised him in the street and called the police.

Richard Wilkes, defending, said Pike, of Beechley Drive, Cardiff, had been jailed last month for burglary.

He was not due to be released until January and asked magistrates to give him a concurrent prison sentence.

"He accepts he's got an alcohol problem and tells me he was drunk when he committed this offence," he said.

"When he's released he will be seeing Alcoholics Anonymous. Staff at the prison have already arranged appointments.

"He's also suffering from depression. He lost his young daughter in a car crash and that's given him a jolt to get his own life back in order."

Magistrates added a month to Pike's existing sentence and told him to pay £70 compensation for the shoes.