A prolific thief stole a wooden bench from outside a store.

Mark George Gibbins, 38, of Nelson Street, Shotton, took the bench from the rear yard of Charlie’s Store in Deeside Retail Park on August 18.

Staff had been expecting a delivery and so opened the gates at about 2pm.

Gibbins and another man, who has not been identified, entered the yard on bikes and each took a bench from near to a skip.

After being identified from CCTV footage, Gibbins fully admitted to police he had taken the bench.

Appearing before Wrexham Magistrates’ Court, he pleaded guilty to theft.

Rhian Jackson, prosecuting, said Gibbins had 76 convictions for 227 offences – 138 of them theft matters.

The theft also put Gibbins in breach of a conditional discharge for a previous theft.

On that occasion, he had stolen a number of items from a Poundland store in Flint.

Gibbins did not have money to get back to Deeside and so stole items he could easily sell on for cash, including children’s pyjamas and deodorant.

Fiona Larkin, defending, said Gibbins had seen the bench by a skip and thought it was being thrown away.

But he accepted he did not have permission to take it.

Gibbins had recently been diagnosed as schizophrenic and was now medicated for the condition, which had made a big difference.

He had reduced his methadone intake and is hopeful of coming off it completely in the future.

Ms Jones said Gibbins had got his life back on track since the offence in August, borne out by the fact that he had not committed any other offences since then – which was good for him.

Magistrates revoked the original conditional discharge and
re-sentenced Gibbins to a further 18-month conditional discharge.

He was also ordered to pay £150 in compensation to Charlie’s Store, as well as £85 in costs and a £20 victim surcharge.