A ‘professional criminal’ who stole from four shops during a one day spree in Cardigan earlier this month and also used a stolen bank card in an Aberystwyth supermarket has been handed a suspended jail term by magistrates.

Andrew O’Connell, of 21 Maeshyfryd, St Dogmaels, appeared before Llanelli Magistrates’ Court on 7 February.

The 37-year-old pleaded guilty at the hearing to stealing a shirt worth £22 from the Original Factory Shop on High Street in Cardigan on 4 February.

O’Connell also admitted stealing an iPhone from the Guild Hall in Cardigan on the same day, as well stealing a pair of Nike jogging bottoms from FOE sports shop on High Street, Cardigan.

He also pleaded guilty to stealing three electric toothbrushes to the value of £300 from the Boots store in Pendre, Cardigan, also on 4 February.

O’Connell also admitted stealing a bank card belonging to Kelly Williams on Aberystwyth Road in Cardigan on 5 February.

He also pleaded guilty to a charge of fraud by false representation by using the stolen debit card to buy £89.45 worth of goods from Tesco in Aberystwyth on the same day.

Magistrates sentenced O’Connell to a total of 12 weeks in prison for the offences, but suspended the sentence for 12 months.

Magistrates said the offence are “so serious that only a custodial sentence can be justified” because O’Connell has a “flagrant disregard for people and their property”, and the “number and nature of the offences shows that the defendant is operating as a professional criminal.”

The sentence was suspended because there was a “prospect of rehabilitation.”

O’Connell was also placed under a nine month drug rehabilitation programme and was ordered to pay a total of £389.45 in compensation.

O’Connell must also pay costs to the Crown Prosecution Service of £85.