A 35-year-old man who stole two bottles of whiskey from Marks and Spencer was jailed after Blackburn magistrates were told he had 164 previous convictions for theft.
The court heard Andrew Phillip Berry had been convicted of more than 250 previous offences in his criminal career.
Andrew Church-Taylor, defending, said Berry's high number of convictions had been fuelled by the need to buy drugs.
And prosecutor Philip Potter said he did not think he had ever seen a worse record for theft-related offences.
"The vast majority of those 164 convictions are for shoplifting," said Mr Potter.
Berry, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to theft and failing to surrender to bail and was sent to prison for 28 days.
Mr Church-Taylor said Berry lived a nomadic life and had been arrested while he was living rough in Blackpool.
"Addiction to drugs is behind his offending," said Mr Church-Taylor.
"His heroin abuse is sporadic, he falls into addiction, moves on then falls back again."
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