AN ALCOHOLIC who stole frying pans to pay for booze has been spared jail and celebrated by going to the pub.
Stephen Carter, 55, of Temple Grove Park in West Hanningfield, stole four non-stick Ceracraft pans worth £119.96 from Wilkinson in The Meadows Shopping Centre in Chelmsford to sell on at half-price to his friends.
The thefts amounted to £119.96 but he was forced to pay compensation to Wilkinson for just one of the £29.99 pans, along with an unpaid £80 fine and a £60 victim surcharge.
The father-of-three , who claims he drank eight cans and four pints of beer before attending Chelmsford Magistrates' Court on Thursday, told the Chronicle after the hearing: "It's a result.
"I could have gone to prison and I was really scared I would. I even got someone to look after my pets but now I am just going to get drunk.
"I might ring people up now and see who is about for a drink, but you'll never see me in that court room again, no way, not on my life, it's cost me more than it was worth.
"I should have just paid the £80 fine straight off – I drink more than that in a day."
Mr Carter first stole one frying pan and paid for another pan on May 8, before going straight to Lloyds Bar in Chelmsford to sell them to a buyer for half price.
Other friends, however, said it was unfair they were not accounted for, so he returned on May 13 to steal three more.
Yet security guards tracked him down to the same city centre pub – where he is now barred – and recovered the three pans.
The former Ramsden Heath boy, who has lived in a mobile home in West Hanningfield for 15 years, was also given an 18-month supervision order in which he must meet with probation officers regularly, and 24 alcohol awareness sessions.
Probation officer Peter Jaynes, who gave evidence to the court after interviewing Mr Carter, said he had freely admitted needing treatment.
"He admitted that he stole the frying pans to fuel his alcohol consumption.
"He is desperate for help. He has already completed an alcohol abuse programme in 2008 and went six months without drinking, but that all changed when his father died in 2009 and he has drunk ever since.
"He has drunk since he was 12 years old, so he is a heavy drinker, but he isn't in the best health. He is taking depression tablets and carries a colostomy bag," said Mr Jones.
"He is covered by housing benefits and pays council tax on top of that. All the while he also has to support his children. He has a 25-year-old, a 21-year-old and a nine-year-old by another parent.
"He can't read or write and doesn't want to seek help at this time."
Jonathon Taylor, mitigating, said his thefts on both occasions were not sophisticated and therefore did not qualify as a serious offence.
"He has pleaded guilty as well, so I think that should be taken into account," Mr Taylor added.
