Two men, whose criminal records each stretch back more than 40 years, have been given suspended prison sentences for stealing a £800 boiler from a Shrewsbury DIY store.

Alan Bigley, 58, of Hundred End Lane, Hesketh Bank, Lancashire, and 60-year-old Michael Maloney, of Norbury Road, Kirby, Merseyside, both admitted the theft of the boiler and associated tools when they appeared at Shrewsbury Crown Court yesterday.

Describing them as “criminal dinosaurs”, Judge Robin Onions gave them each a 40-week prison sentence, suspended for two years.

They were also given a 12-month supervision order, told to carry out 150 hours of unpaid community work and ordered to pay £175 court costs.

Mr Stephen Bacon, prosecuting, said Bigley entered the B&Q store in Shrewsbury and put the boiler, worth £814, on a trolley. He covered it up with a sheet of wood and left the trolley in the foyer without paying.

Maloney then pushed the trolley to a waiting van. Store staff saw the offence and the men were arrested in the car park.

Mr Stuart Nolan, for both defendants, said his clients had a long history of offences for dishonesty from a young age but the frequency of their offending was now less.

Judge Onions said their latest offence was “pretty amateurish”. He suggested Bigley may as well have worn a neon sign saying “shoplifter at work”.

He told them: “You are criminal dinosaurs, habitual thieves. The only thing that will slow you down is age and infirmity.”