AN ISLE of Wight man who stole almost £500 worth of goods from Waitrose and Sainsbury’s, breaching two suspended sentence orders in the process, has been spared jail.

Richard Sullivan, of Union Street, Ryde, appeared before a judge at the Isle of Wight Crown Court on Friday, April 12.

The 49-year-old admitted three counts of theft from a shop, in Ryde and East Cowes, between December 15, 2023, and January 12.

Prosecutor, Tim Devlin, said the offences put Sullivan in breach of two separate suspended sentence orders imposed on the same day.

He said Sullivan stole £23 worth of goods from Sainsbury’s in Ryde between December 15 and 19 of last year.

Then, weeks later, on January 12, Sullivan stole 22 bottles of vodka and gin from Waitrose in East Cowes, valued at £474.25.

The court heard Sullivan had 30 previous convictions for 61 offences, of which 32 were matters of theft.

Jonathan Underhill, defending, said Sullivan had been on remand for some time.

He said his suspended sentence orders barely had time to bed in at all before he was remanded in custody.

Mr Underhill said it was appropriate to allow probation to address the underlying issues of his offending behaviour, and unjust to activate his suspended sentence orders.

“He should get one more shot at them,” said Mr Underhill.

Judge Michael Bowes said it was in the public interest to give Sullivan one last chance, and he had already served the equivalent of a six-month prison sentence.

“It is clear you want to take steps to sort your life out,” said Judge Bowes.

“I am going to give you that chance, but any further breaches and you will inevitably go to prison.”

Sullivan was made subject of a 12-month community order, to include 136 hours of unpaid work.