A serial offender who hid drugs in his bum has been jailed after stealing an expensive jacket from John Lewis. 

David Connor, of London Road, Reading, breached a suspended sentence order he received in July 2021. 

He was handed a 24-month prison sentence suspended for 18 months after being caught carrying out a drug deal in Wokingham. 

The 36-year-old was apprehended and searched by police officers, who found a plug against his anus containing dozens of wraps of cocaine and heroin. 

Fast forward nine months and Connor was caught stealing a Barbour jacket worth £200 in John Lewis, Reading, prosecutor Michael Bisgrove said. 

This was a breach of his suspended sentence as a condition of his order was not to re-offend. 

Caroline Stewart, defending, argued that the theft was ‘unsophisticated’ and that Connor was not a ‘habitual’ shoplifter. 

She said the offence would warrant a fine in a lower court. 

The defendant has 25 previous convictions for 43 offences including theft, assault and taking a vehicle without consent. 

His Honour Judge Nawaz, sentencing, told Connor: “You again let yourself down.”

He said there was “no other option” than to activate the Reading man’s suspended sentence. 

Connor was told to serve 26 weeks of his suspended sentence, with an additional week for the theft of the jacket.

He appeared at Reading Crown Court from custody on Wednesday, August 24.