A shop thief from Shropshire who pleaded to be sent to jail so he could get free meals and heating during the winter has had his wish granted.

Andrew Winter, 43, of no fixed abode, was today beginning a four-month jail term after he admitted stealing a £7 bottle of vodka from Lidl in Whitchurch.

He appeared at Market Drayton Magistrates Court yesterday charged with theft from a shop on February 2 and breaching a conditional discharge. Winter admitted both charges.

Mr Martin Rogerson, for Winter, told the court he was making an “unusual” request that his client be sent to jail rather than face homelessness if he was given a non-custodial sentence.

Winter could keep on working as a cleaner and have three meals a day and warmth in prison, he added.

He said: “The reality is that if he walks free he will go back to doing the things he was doing before.”

Mrs Katie Price, prosecuting, said that Winter had told police in interview that he had stolen the vodka from the supermarket on February 2 because he had had no money to pay for it.

Mrs Price added that Winter also told police he was an alcoholic and had just been released from prison when he stole the booze.

She said Winter admitted the theft when detained in the shop.

Sentencing Winter to two four-month jail sentences to run concurrently, magistrates said the sentence reflected his “flagrant, wilful and persistent disregard for court orders” made previously. No compensation or costs against Winter were awarded by magistrates

Winter was also told 22 days spent on remand would be taken off his sentence.