A WREXHAM man has been handed a conditional discharge after he tried to take alcohol from a shop without paying.

Wayne Roy Stocker, of Mere Crescent, was sentenced in his absence by Magistrates in Wrexham on Friday.

The 50-year-old had already entered a guilty plea on a previous occasion to the offence of stealing Strongbow Cider worth £12 from the Co-op in Wrexham earlier this year.

Rebecca Ross, prosecuting, said the defendant entered the Borras Park Road store on the evening of February 23.

He selected a pack of Strongbow and walked past the last point where he could have paid for it, without making payment.

When he was stopped he told staff he was going to check his bank balance at a nearby cash machine.

Staff recovered the alcohol and when he re-entered, he was allowed to continue shopping, purchasing two bottles of beer.

Andrew Holliday, defending, said: "He entered a guilty plea at the earliest opportunity.

"Mr Stocker was intoxicated and accepted he should have paid."

The court issued a 12 month conditional discharge and ordered the defendant to pay £85 costs and a £22 victim surcharge.

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