A repeat offender who stole comedian Bill Bailey’s tour bus from outside a Liverpool theatre has been jailed for two years.

Francis Whittaker stole the keys to Bailey’s leased Mercedes Sprinter van and an Apple laptop from a room in the Philharmonic Hall in Hope Street on 26 October where the comedian was due to perform as part of his Limboland tour.

One of Bailey’s assistants found the door to the previously locked room open and discovered that the van, which contained £2,400 worth of merchandise and personal property, had gone.

When police examined CCTV footage it showed two men entering the building through an insecure fire door and a few minutes later 35-year-old Whittaker was seen leaving and driving off in the van, Andrew Sinker, prosecuting, told Liverpool crown court.

It was found the following month in a Liverpool suburb with false number plates. After it was recovered, Bailey tweeted his thanks to the police and people of Liverpool and promised to be back in May.

Whittaker, of West Derby, who was arrested a week later, was on bail at the time for public disorder offences.

Two months earlier, along with two other men, he had stolen keys to a £17,000 Vauxhall van at the Hilton hotel in Liverpool and taken the van.

The vehicle, which belonged to a flooring contractor working at the hotel, contained £12,000 worth of tools and also keys to his Audi car. Some days later the owner, Gerard McKeever, was in bed at home and awoke to find the same three men attempting to unlock his Audi. They left the scene after he shouted from his bedroom window.

Jailing Whittaker, who has 42 previous convictions for 84 offences, Judge Elizabeth Nicholls said: “It is often easy to forget the inconvenience, pain and chaos you inflict on those who are victims of your crimes.”

She said that she had been told by the defence that McKeever’s van had since been recovered, “but it is highly unlikely the tools have been recovered and returned to the owner and no doubt he had problems continuing his business without the use of those tools”.

The judge said that the second theft involving the tour bus had also doubtless caused chaos to those involved. “There seems to have been a level of planning and an element of targeting and you were part of a group.”

Whittaker pleaded guilty to burglary and theft on 26 October and theft on 17 August.

Charlotte Pringle, defending, said that Whittaker had had drug and alcohol issues for many years and they had been a main ingredient in his offending. He had tried to address them, but had failed, she added.