A MAN with an addiction to cars stole to feed his habit, a court was told.

Stuart Jones, who is currently in custody at HMP Onley, appeared at Worcester Magistrates Court where he pleaded guilty to burglary and theft.

He asked for nine further crimes to be taken into consideration.

Louise Mead, prosecuting, said the 33-year-old broke into a secure compound belonging to Micorferm in Malvern at about 5.30pm on June 11 last year and stole steel piping to the value of £1,200.

He was subsequently arrested and imprisoned for a separate crime but fingerprints found by police at the scene matched his.

During an interview with officers, Jones told them he couldn’t remember the time or date he went to the compound because he had committed so many crimes.

He also admitted taking four wheels from a green Ford Focus, to the value of £800, belonging to Brookhire Rental in Malvern between July 10 and 12, 2010.

Fergus Maxwell, defending, said his client had spent two-thirds of his adult life in custody but he wanted to make a fresh start when he is released from a prison sentence for dangerous driving in November.

“The reason Mr Jones made the admissions is to clear the slate,” he said.

“He has reached the stage in his life where he wants to lead a more clean existence. His girlfriend gave birth to their first child in February.”

Mr Maxwell said the motivation behind Jones’ offending was not because he was a drug user or alcoholic, but because he has an “addiction to motor vehicles”.

Sentencing, district judge David Goodman said: “From one aspect, this is a tidying-up exercise but from the aspect of the people whose vehicles have been broken into, the inconvenience is extreme.

“I really do hope you stop coming back here because you’re a pretty useless criminal.”

Jones was given 26 weeks’ custody for the burglary and 12 weeks’ custody for the theft, to run concurrently.