A SERIAL burglar who broke into a shop and a beauty salon while on bail for another burglary offence has been jailed.

James Taylor, 30, burgled a hairdressers in Southend only a month after being caught red-handed at the scene of another break-in.

At the time of the burglaries he was already serving a suspended sentence for another offence, Southend magistrates were told.

Taylor had admitted both burglaries and illegally carrying a knife at an earlier hearing and yesterday was given jail sentences totalling 34 weeks.

Prosecuting, Suzanne Stringer said the first offence was in December at a food takeaway next to the Shoebury Asda supermarket.

Police were called, after two men were seen acting suspiciously in the car park.

CCTV images showed Taylor and another man coming out of the shop at about 2am. She said Taylor, of Fraser Close, Shoebury, was detained in the supermarket car park but the other man ran away, dropping the shop’s till as he fled. A hammer and chisels were found nearby.

The burglary caused £3,000 damage, but the amount of cash in the till was never established.

The second burglary was at Saks hairdressers, in Southend High Street, at the beginning of January.

Again, Taylor was caught on CCTV.

Police were called and when they arrested him they found he was carrying a craft knife and had stolen more than £150 from the till.

His lawyer, Gavin Burrell, said: “Mr Taylor has a number of problematic issues.

“He finds it difficult to cope without prescription drugs. He needs someone to work with him and ensure he doesn’t revert to crime.”

Taylor was given eight weeks in jail for the first burglary and a further ten for the second, with an eight-week sentence for the knife offence to run concurrently.

He was then told he would serve a further eight weeks in jail for breaching the suspended prison sentence.