A BEGGAR found guilty of theft and breaching an antisocial behaviour order (ASBO) by begging in York has been jailed for seven months.

But Jeffrey John Ward immediately walked free from court because, having spent time in custody, he had already served his sentence.

Ward, 29, denied a charge of burglary, but pleaded guilty to stealing a gold pendant and several CDs from a house in Townend Street, York, in February, and also admitted breaching the ASBO which had banned him from begging inside the city.

At York Crown Court, Judge James Spencer QC sentenced him to a combined jail term of seven months.

Ward's barrister, Mark McKone, acknowledged he had a long record of offences of dishonesty, dating back to the early 1990s, but appealed for a lenient sentence.

He said Ward had been a heroin addict for six years, but that he had been free from the drug for several months. Mr McKone said the ban on begging handed out last year had forced Ward to turn to theft to feed his addiction, but that his client recognised the harm the drug had done him. He said: "His hope is that when he is released he will continue to be free of it."

This latest sentence was not the first time Ward had found himself handed a prison sentence.

In May last year, he was jailed for breaching his ASBO for the second time. He admitted begging outside Bootham Bar, but was also sentenced for stealing three bottles of alcopops from Jacksons store in Fulford.

Two months earlier, he became the first person to be jailed in York for breaching an ASBO after he was found begging outside York Station only 48 hours after magistrates imposed an order banning him from committing the offence.

Ward's ASBO was issued in March 2004 to run for five years. It remains in place. Carole Patrick, of Safer York Partnership, said: "We powerfully endorse his will to break the drugs cycle, which is clearly damaging himself and society.

"However, if there is a further breach, appropriate action will be taken."

Updated: 10:17 Friday, May 13, 2005