A man was seen by an off-duty police officer trying car doors at the rear of Burnley police station at 7am.

Blackburn magistrates heard CCTV showed Barry Preston behaving in the same way in other parts of the town centre.

When he was arrested for those matters he was identified as being responsible for stealing a charity box from Costa Coffee two months earlier.

Preston, 63, of no fixed address, admitted to burglary at Costa Coffee and vehicle interference. He was jailed for 16 weeks.

Passing sentence, the chairman of the magistrates said Preston had an appalling record for similar offences.

“You were on bail and were made subject to a community order only two days before this latest offence,” he said.

Jackie Partington, prosecuting, said the offence at Costa Coffee had been caught on CCTV. Preston was seen opening an unlocked shutter and removing the charity box as the shop was closing.

At the rear of the police station Preston was seen looking into cars before trying the doors. He then moved on to Tesco before being arrested.

Gareth Price, defending, said it was his client’s previous record that was going to be the main aggravating feature.

“He is subject to post sentence supervision following his last custodial sentence and a community order that was imposed last week,” said Mr Price.

He said for a long time Preston had been a contributing member of society including time in the army.

“When he was around 50 years of age his marriage broke down,” said Mr Price. “As well as being heartbroken, all the things that had filled his life were no longer there and shortly after he started using drugs. He wound up in prison and didn’t enjoy it.”