A THIEF who stole frozen ducks from a York convenience store twice in two days has been jailed.

The manager at the Co-operative store in Beagle Ridge Drive, Foxwood, suspected something was wrong when he saw how few frozen ducks were left on display on June 6, Katherine Reeve, prosecuting, told York magistrates.

A check of the CCTV showed Michael Myers, 32, loitering around the store before packing five of the poultry worth £55 in a backpack and leaving without paying at 11.27am.

CCTV also caught him the previous day putting a single frozen duck and cuts of meat in a bag at 2.10pm and again leaving without paying. From the CCTV, the store could not put a value to the meat.

Myers, who gave an address in Brownlow Street, The Groves, pleaded guilty to two charges of theft and was jailed for eight weeks.

Ms Reeve said he was on parole at the time and had a long record for theft.

Magistrates said the offence was more serious because he had committed it soon after being released part-way through a jail term for a similar offence and because of his record.

For Myers, Mark Partridge said: “He committed the offences out of desperation to pay off his debts.”

For many years, he had stolen to fund his drug habit.

He was now on methadone and had not taken heroin for “a significant period of time”. But he still owed money to a heroin dealer, so had stolen the ducks to pay for it.