A 66-year-old man stole to eat after his pension was stopped when he was released from prison.

Blackburn magistrates heard John Crabtree was a prolific offender with nearly 250 previous offences on his record.

He was also subject to a criminal behaviour order which banned him from stores in Accrington town centre.

And he was subject to a suspended prison sentence for breaching the order when he committed the latest offence at Oswaldtwistle Mills.

Crabtree, of Clement Street, Accrington, pleaded guilty to stealing two wooden elephant ornaments worth £39.98 from Oswaldtwistle Mills.

He was jailed for eight weeks.

Parveen Akhtar, prosecuting, said Crabtree went into the store at 11.18am, put the elephants in a bag and was detained as he left.

She said his record showed 246 previous offences, 138 of them relating to theft.

He was made subject to a criminal behaviour order and in July was sentenced to eight weeks in prison suspended for 12 months for three breaches of the order.

Aftab Bakhat, defending, said his client had been released from prison and his pension had not been reinstated.

"He took these statues to sell to raise money to buy food," said Mr Bakhat.

"He is suffering from a condition that is reducing his memory capacity and that is not helping matters."

In January Crabtree found himself in the dock for committing his 227th offence on his 66th birthday. On that occasion Crabtree was jailed for five months after pleaded guilty to three breaches of the criminal behaviour order by entering Asda and Wilco on two occasions and theft of a bottle of Fairy Liquid from Wilko.

After Crabtree committed his 98th offence last August by stealing two bottles of washing up liquid from Wilko in Burnley his solicitor at the time, Richard Prew, said his client was in the 'revolving door' syndrome of offending and prison.

District Judge James Clarke told Crabtree: "It looks as though this revolving door has been spinning since 1983 and you must be getting dizzy by now.

"I can promise you if you get to 100 convictions you will not get a prize."