A “brazen” thief caught red-handed when he tried to sneak an inflatable hot tub out of B&Q has admitted multiple shoplifting offences.
Carl Proctor was stopped by security on 11 August after he entered the store in Crewe, Cheshire, placed a Lay-Z-Spa in a trolley and set the fire alarm off as he tired to exit through a side door.
The 41-year-old, who fled without the hot tub while police were being called, had already previously taken about £1,800 worth of items from the store, as well as a Sharp TV from Tesco in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, on 16 July.
Proctor, of Chell Heath Road, Stoke-on-Trent, was later arrested and pleaded guilty to four counts of theft and one count of assault at Chester Magistrates Court on Tuesday.
He has been released on bail and ordered not to enter Cheshire until his sentencing at North Staffordshire Justice Centre on 29 September.
Insp Dan Welch, of Cheshire Police, said: “Proctor was brazen in his attempts to steal from the stores in Crewe and Hanley, taking thousands of pounds worth of goods.”
He said the force would seek to obtain a Criminal Behaviour Order to prevent Proctor from entering Crewe, which Insp Welch said would “protect businesses and their staff from his prolific offending”.
