A MAN blamed using a batch of contaminated drugs for making him go out and shoplift at a Chard supermarket.

Chino Brun was spotted acting suspiciously by a customer at Tesco and then left the store openly carrying a bag filled with bottles of booze.

After being arrested he appeared before Somerset Magistrates who were told that he never usually stole to feed his drug addiction and said he had been acting bizarrely due to a fix of bad drugs.

Brun, 31, of Phelps Close, Chard, pleaded guilty to stealing a bottle of gin and two bottles of Jack Daniels worth £90.50 on March 21 and also admitted being in breach of a conditional discharge imposed for a previous offence of theft.

Prosecutor Emma Lenanton said that after a customer told staff of Brun’s suspicious behaviour they saw him leaving the store carrying a bag which had been filled with various bottles of alcohol.

“He got into a nearby car and when the police arrived they found Brun inside it and the stolen items were all recovered,” she said.

Defending solicitor Jeffrey Bannister said Brun did not normally go out stealing and was able to manage his drug addiction by using the money he received in benefits payments.

“However on this occasion he bought some drugs and when he used them he believed they had been spiked and consequently had an adverse effect upon him,” he said.

“After taking them he went to Tesco and started behaving in a bizarre way by openly removing the security tags from bottles of alcohol in front of other people.

“He then left and waited in a nearby car and the police found him inside and arrested him.”

The magistrates fined Brun £120 with £85 costs and a £34 victim surcharge and allowed the conditional discharge to continue.