PRISONER David Richard Hargreaves expressed his gratitude to the judge who sent him to jail.

And his solicitor, Roger Pickles, told Blackburn magistrates that the sentence imposed at Burnley Crown Court had probably saved his client's life.

Hargreaves, 24, of Bolton Road, Blackburn, but currently in Haverigg Prison, Cumbria, pleaded guilty to two offences of shoplifting, one of going equipped for theft, breach of a community rehabilitation order and breach of a deferred sentence.

He was sentenced to a total of two months in prison, which will not affect his release date in May.

Mr Pickles said that when the judge had imposed an 18-month probation order in January last year, he had warned that if he breached the order the judge would deal with him personally.

He said: "In November he eventually caught up with him and dealt with him by way of a 12-month prison sentence. He says that is the best thing that has ever happened to him. He has a roof over his head, he is clean, he is healthy and, most importantly, he is alcohol-free.

"He thanks the judge for putting him in prison and helping him to put his life back together."

The offences for which Hargreaves was before the court were committed prior to the prison sentence being imposed and Mr Pickles said, at the time, Hargreaves was homeless and spent his time drinking himself into oblivion.

"He was killing himself and I suspect that if he hadn't gone into custody he would have been dead by now," said Mr Pickles.

"He would have died of hypothermia having drunk himself into a stupor and collapsed somewhere, or simply died from excess alcohol consumption."

He said that since going into custody Hargreaves had managed to put his life in order.