A RELAPSED heroin addict stole £360 worth of meat from the same supermarket in a bid to pay for drugs.

Stuart Waters went into the Iceland store in the Triangle Shopping Centre in Frinton six times in February and March, a court heard.

On each occasion he grabbed a handful of meat and left without paying. He was traced when he was spotted getting into a car and police traced CCTV.

The 40-year-old, of Edith Road, Clacton, admitted six counts of theft when he appeared at Colchester Magistrates’ Court.

The court heard he had relapsed into heroin addiction after the death of a relative.

Waters was handed a year’s community order with 80 hours of unpaid work and costs of £145 and a £90 victim surcharge.