JAILED: Prolific thief who netted £7.5k cosmetics in Walsall ram raid
A prolific thief escaped with £7,500 worth of cosmetics after a ram raid on a Black Country chemist, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.
Drug addict Paul Nightingale and another, unidentified, man also caused more than £10,000 damage when they struck at the Lloyds pharmacy in Bloxwich High Street.
They battered down the closed shutters of the shop with a Vauxhall Astra stolen from the car park at Bloxwich Hospital in Reeves Street seven days before the night time burglary on July 28, explained Mr Edward Soulsby, prosecuting.
Nightingale, who was still on licence from an earlier jail term, was tracked down days later after police recognised him on CCTV of the incident.
He had 20 previous convictions, seven of which were for burglary and the bulk of the remainder were for theft. Mr Soulsby concluded: "The overall thrust of his antecedents is that he is a thief."
Miss Wendy Miller, defending, said: "He is a drug addict and that is why he committed this offence."
Nightingale from Oak Road, Walsall, pleaded guilty to burglary and aggravated vehicle taking and was jailed for two years and six months by Judge Nicholas Webb who told him: "You were under the influence of drink and drugs as well as being on licence from prison at the time."
Nobody was on the premises when the burglary happened.
