A MAN with a growing drugs debt was given a foil lined box by his dealer and told to go and steal some jackets.

Kevin Wallace, 46, did as he was told to avoid a beating, it was claimed in court yesterday

Wallace, of Church Road, Saughall, admitted stealing three jackets to the value of £460 from Charlie’s Store in Chester Road East, Shotton.

Flintshire magistrates agreed to adjourn the case so he could be assessed to see if he was suitable for a drug rehabilitation course.

Huw Roberts, defending, told the Mold court Wallace had come under threats of physical violence because of the debt he had run up.

The dealer suggested the way out was to go stealing and he had provided Wallace with a foil lined box to carry the stolen goods.

While Wallace had a long-standing heroin problem, he had been able to keep it under control.

He feared that old habits were returning and a drugs course run by the probation service could assist him.

The court heard Wallace, who had previous convictions for 118 offences, ran out of the store with the jackets in the box when an alarm sounded.

He told officers how he jumped into the boot of a car and was driven off.

Interviewed, he said he had been given the box by a man he refused to name, said
prosecutor Andrew Warman.