A MAN given a chance by magistrates set a record for re-offending.

Blackburn magistrates heard Jonathan Michael Holmes was given a conditional discharge for shoplifting at 11.25am and was then arrested at 11.30am for stealing a £350 razor from Boots.

And he admitted to police his high speed offending had been to raise money to buy heroin.

Holmes, 23, of Dall Street, Burnley, pleaded guilty to theft from Boots. He was jailed for 12 weeks.

Catherine Allan, prosecuting, said Holmes had pleaded guilty to stealing an electric toothbrush when he appeared before the court on Thursday.

“Having been treated leniently he probably set some kind of a record for re-offending,” said Miss Allan. “Just five minutes after he was sentenced he was arrested in Boots.”

Keith Rennison, defending, said Holmes realised the position he had put himself in.

“It was the act of a desperate man,” she said.