A PROLIFIC thief who conducted a crime spree across south Essex spanning four years has been spared jail.

Glyn Smith, 28, was given the chance to turn his life around by Judge Rupert Overbury, who said his drug use had led to the crimes.

Smith was eventually traced when he tried to cash two dodgy cheques, for £4,500 and £4,900, at Cheque Cashing, in Furtherwick Road, Canvey.

Smith’s list of offences include: l Snatching £400 from a shop worker at Novelty Number Plates, in Basildon’s Eastgate shopping centre, last August l Stealing a pair of jeans and a top, worth £105, from Envy and a £39 rugby top from Sports World, both also in Eastgate, where he also damaged three sports tops, worth £150, by trying to rip off security tags, in October last year l Taking a jumper from TK Maxx using a pair of wirecutters, in October last year l Stealing a £59 pressure washer from Woolworths, Basildon, in May Smith, who has previous convictions for stealing cars and deception, has also been sentenced for theft after contacting Welcome Car Finance, in Maidstone, Kent, in 2004, about buying a Rover.

He used false documents and was given £9,000 credit, but none of the cash was ever repaid and he sold the vehicle on.

Yesterday, at Basildon Crown Court, Judge Rupert Overbury sentenced Smith to 11 months in prison, but suspended the sentence for 18 months.

Instead he ordered him to complete a drug referral requirement for 12 months.

Judge Overbury said his decision to suspend his sentence was influenced by a psychiatrist’s report, which said his drug use had severely affected his mental health.

He added: “Your offending can only be described as prolific in the past four years.It seems to me, if your use of drugs is curtailed your mental health will be stabilised and thereby your offending behaviour will be curtailed.

“It seems to me any immediate prison sentence would not benefit society as much as a suspended sentence of imprisonment, with various requirements specifically designed to address your drug taking behaviour, which I acknowledge is now in the past.”

Smith, of Hovefields Dri-ve, Wickford, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to seven counts of theft, two counts of false representation and failing to surrender and one count of criminal damage and going equipped for theft.