TRADERS and officials today said "good riddance" to a serial shoplifter after he was jailed for failing to behave himself.

But shopkeepers in Accrington were warned that Michael Aspin could be released sooner than they thought after he lodged an appeal against the sentence. .

Aspin was given one last chance to escape prison last year but magistrates jailed him after he breached a three-year Anti Social Behaviour Order (ASBO) which banned him from parts of the town centre.

The 28-year-old, of South Shore Street, Accrington, appeared before the bench at Hyndburn charged with shoplifting and breach of the ASBO.

In August he cheered as he left court after being told was on his last chance after admitting charges of theft and assault.

But he was arrested and charged on Sunday , less than five months later.

Police said Aspin had stolen coffee from the town centre KwikSave store in Union Street.

Today, sergeant Mark Porter, of Accrington's town centre policing team, said: "As part of our ongoing commitment to reducing crime in the town centre, this is good news for us and for all who trade and use the town centre."

Mark Taylor, KwikSave store manager, said: "This is good news for our staff and customers."

Mark Wrigley, manager of the Asda store, in Hyndburn Road, Accrington, where Aspin stolen socks last year, said: "It's about time a tougher line was taken with persistent offenders. It affects a lot of people so it's overall good news that they are dealing with people in that way."

Peter Clarke, Hyndburn Council's portfolio holder for town centre management, said: "He is in the right place. The traders will have a much easier time without having to keep an eye out for him now he's behind bars."

He was jailed for 12 weeks for shoplifting and 24 weeks for breaching the order, to run concurrently.

The ASBO covered offences including theft, threatening behaviour and shoplifting.

Officers said the terms of the order were amended in September to allow him into the town centre but not into shops he had previously been barred from, which included KwikSave.