A SERIAL shoplifter went on a crime spree just five days after being given a last chance by magistrates, a court heard. Huntingdon man Aaron McKillop, 29, had twice been spared prison for shoplifting offences, prosecutor John Goodier told Huntingdon mag

A SERIAL shoplifter went on a crime spree just five days after being given a 'last chance' by magistrates, a court heard.

Huntingdon man Aaron McKillop, 29, had twice been spared prison for shoplifting offences, prosecutor John Goodier told Huntingdon magistrates.

However, last week magistrates sent McKillop, of Coneygear Court, to jail for six months - the maximum permitted by a magistrates' court.

Mr Goodier told the court McKillop had been arrested after stealing items from the Spar, Waitrose and SH Harrold optician stores in St Ives on June 13 and 14.

McKillop had previously been handed a four-month suspended prison sentence for the theft of computer games from Choices UK in St Ives in March this year.

He was again spared jail after a further shoplifting spree on June 7, this time from Huntingdon's Marks and Spencer and Boots the chemist.

Mitigating, Mike Trippitt admitted that McKillop was a prolific, persistent offender, but pleaded with magistrates not to send him to jail.

Magistrates ordered McKillop to be taken straight to prison, adding a further two months in jail to his suspended tally.

Derek Hiscoke, from Huntingdonshire Business Against Crime, said: "Businesses are pig sick of the same people doing the same thing, time after time. It is always somebody else's fault.