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A prolific thief who targeted an Aintree biscuit factory told a police officer he had been “burgling this place since before you were a child”, a court heard today.

Drug addict James Mcardle, 45, pleaded guilty to burglary at Liverpool Magistrates’ Court after breaking into the Jacob’s factory in Long Lane, Aintree, on Saturday night.

The court heard Mcardle, of Carnarvon Road in Walton had 93 previous convictions for dishonesty offences on his record, including 19 burglaries.

Lionel Cope, prosecuting, said police were called to the factory after reports of an intruder on the premises, and were directed to the rear of the factory.

He told the court: “As the police got around the back of the site near the fence they saw a male walking towards the fence carrying several boxes of Jacobs Oddities biscuits.

“The male ran away down a rough track and the officers pursued him on foot.”

Mcardle was seen to drink from a bottle, later discovered to contain the heroin substitute methadone, and to have thrown a bag over the fence.

After he was arrested the officer asked how he planned to retrieve the bag.

Mcardle said he would have climbed the fence, and when the officer expressed doubt due to its height, the defendant said: “I have burgled this place loads of times, I have been burgling this place since before you were a child.”

The court heard the biscuits were worth a total of £44.52.

James Hatton, defending, said: “The only thing that drives this offending is his long term addiction to Class A drugs.”

District Judge Ian Lomax, passing sentence, said: “This clearly passes the custody threshold but I am not convinced that locking you up at a cost of thousands is in the public interest,”

Mcardle received a 16 week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, and was given a 10 week curfew of between 8pm and 6am.

He was also ordered to pay £85 court costs, a £180 court charges and an £80 victim surcharge.