A THIEF who has nearly 220 criminal convictions bought presents last Christmas – the first time he hadn’t stolen them, a court was told.

Roy Taylor, 47, who had still been out stealing, was said to have turned over a new leaf and even though he had had 14 probation orders since 1998 and flouted all of them, he was now on supervision and working with the service, Burnley magistrates heard.

The hearing was told Taylor was banned from Wilkinsons store in the town, but last December took goods worth £40.

On February 7, he struck again, stealing eight cans of Lynx deodorant.

The defendant, of Accrington Road, Burnley, who had 218 previous convictions, 124 of them for theft, was given a community order with a curfew.

He admitted two thefts and was in breach of a conditional discharge for taking meat from M&S.