Lifelong shoplifter Gregory Horrabin jailed.

The 50-year-old admitted stealing from various stores across Brighton & Hove, attacking shop staff and failing to attend supervision meetings after leaving prison for similar offences.

He was convicted for assaulting the store manager of the Co-Op in North Street in December last year while in March of this year he admitted stealing champagne worth £20 from the Co-op in Church Road, Hove. One month later in April he threatened violence to the manager of Tesco in Jubilee Street, Brighton.

In May he stole meat from Sainsbury’s in Western Road, Prosecco from the Co-op in North Street, and Tattinger Champagne from Waitrose.

Magistrates said that Horrabin showed a “flagrant disregard for people and their property” and jailed him for 12 weeks.

He previously made the news in 2012 when he appeared at Brighton Magistrates' Court for similar offences and instructed his solicitor to ask the magistrate: “If I receive a short-term custodial sentence, what benefit is that going to have for me? I’ll be lying down in bed watching TV.”