A thirsty thief helped himself to more than £100-worth of wine from his neighbour's garden shed when he was supposed to be staying at home during the coronavirus lockdown.
Ryan Rainey was captured on CCTV stealing 24 bottles of booze from the makeshift wine cellar in Cowgate, Newcastle, last month.
The prolific shoplifter appeared in court in March and was locked-up for 14 weeks after he admitted four supermarket thefts but denied one count of burglary of a non-dwelling in relation to the shed.
However, since then, the 27-year-old successfully appealed his jail term and it was reduced to an eight-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months.
Rainey, of Rose Terrace, Cowgate, was back in the dock at North Tyneside Magistrates' Court on Thursday to change his plea to the shed burglary charge.
Giving him another eight-week jail sentence, suspended for 12 months, and ordering to abide by a curfew between 8pm and 8am for eight weeks, District Judge Paul Currer said: "I'm surprised someone in Cowgate is storing 24 bottles of wine in their shed - it's an extensive wine cellar."
The judge added: "It's unpleasant for you to go into a neighbour's garden and steal wine from their shed, it's a particularly mean and unpleasant thing to do, particularly in the current climate."
The court was told that Rainey was caught on CCTV entering the garden shed, on Whitehorn Crescent, on the evening of March 27 this year.
Lorna Rimell, prosecuting, said: "The defendant has gone into the shed, which had already been broken into earlier that day, and stolen 24 bottles of wine .
"It's a residential street in Cowgate."
Lewis Pearson, defending, said: "Mr Rainey was given an immediate prison sentence earlier this month and that was overturned on appeal at the crown court.
"He was, instead, given a suspended sentence. I would suggest maybe a compensation order would be appropriate in this case."
As well as the suspended sentence and curfew, Rainey, who has 34 offences on his criminal record, was ordered to pay £107 compensation to the owner of the wine.
Earlier this year, Rainey was given a community order after he admitted targeting Morrisons nine times in four weeks and helping himself to £700-worth of goods, mainly sweets.
But, just five hours after he appeared in the dock and apologised for his behaviour, the thief showed his contempt for the justice system by walking into Asda and stealing two bottles of champagne and seven bottles of gin.
Over the following seven days, he helped himself to booze a further three times from supermarkets and left without paying.
He was jailed for those four shop thefts in April but successfully appealed the sentence and is now back on the streets.
