A prolific shoplifter who stole more than £20,000 of goods from Falmouth shops to fund his heroin addiction walked out of court ‘a free man’ last week.

Karl Michael Flanagan, 31, of Grenville Road, Falmouth, pleaded guilty in November 2014 to a string of 50 thefts between April and August, including clothes, cosmetics, and alcohol, but the judge, Christopher Harvey Clerk deferred sentencing to allow him to prove he could stay away from drugs.

The court heard that Flanagan, who has appeared before judges on over 30 occasions, sold the goods to fund his £100 a day addiction, and in June he had told his lawyer Fred Howell: “I really want to make a clean start of it and get help with my drug problem.”

Since his conviction in November, Flanagan had been undergoing residential rehabilitation at Chy Colom in Truro until January 5, where he had been given a final warning for failing to attend meetings, and had once tested positive for amphetamines but never for heroin.

Mr Howell said: “For a man that was on a £100 a day habit, though there has been a hiccup, realistically I won’t say he’s done well, but he’s had a good stab at it.”

PC Martin Horton, of the police’s Prolific Offenders Team, based in Camborne, said he believed Flanagan had come off drugs, and that there had been no reported crime or anything to suggest that he was committing crime, adding that he checked daily.

Sentencing Flanagan to 16 months imprisonment, suspended for two years, Mr Harvey Clark said: “As you know I gave you a chance on November 19, and I’m very pleased to see that for the most part you have accepted the chance that I gave you and have done well.

“I want you to keep off drugs, particularly heroin... and I want you to keep your hands off other people’s property.

“You are an accomplished shoplifter, or you were, and as I said three months ago I’ve little doubt that the shops in Falmouth and Penryn would greatly wish you to go behind bars.”

He also ordered Flanagan to pay £100 victim surcharge and imposed a supervision order for two year, and added that with the help of PC Horton and probation officers, there was a “realistic chance” that he could keep out of trouble.

He concluded: “If you come back here my hands are tied.

“You can walk out of this court a free man, but be warned there’s a suspended sentence hanging over you.”

PC Mark Eyres, the Falmouth police rime manager, said: “It’s good that he was dealt with in respect of all those matters, and hopefully his rehabilitation will prevent further crime in the area.”